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Protesters seek return of mainland tour groups
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THOUSANDS of workers in the tourism industry took to the streets of Taiwan Island’s capital city yesterday, demanding the government address a slump in visitors from China’s mainland that is being blamed on a deterioration of cross-Strait ties.
Operators who had previously benefited from a boom in mainland tourists under former leader Ma Ying-jeou’s government are now only getting a fraction of the business as relations with the mainland grow increasingly frosty under new leader Tsai Ing-wen.
The number of visitors from the mainland has dropped almost 24 percent in the months since Tsai took office in May, compared with the same period last year, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council.
As many as 10,000 people, from tour guides to bus drivers and restaurant workers, gathered in front of the leadership complex in Taipei demanding that Tsai take action.
They waved placards with slogans such as “No job, no life” and “Cross-Strait is one family” while chanting “We need to survive.”
“Tsai Ing-wen should proactively reach out to the mainland to negotiate,” said 43-year-old tour guide Carol Ku, who says she has not worked for a month.
“Going forward, tourism won’t be the only sector to be affected,” she said.
Chinese mainland visitors accounted for about 40 percent of the 10 million tourists who came to Taiwan last year, according to government figures.
The biggest slump in visitors from the mainland is in those who arrive in tour groups — a decline of over 40 percent.
That has hit the tea shop where Maggie Huang works in Alishan in central Taiwan, well known for its mountainous views and tea farms.
Huang, who is in her 40s, says her shop used to be visited by as many as 30 mainland tour groups a day. Yesterday, they had none. “We don’t care about politics. We are just normal citizens trying to make a living,” she said.
Tsai’s government has said it is seeking to attract more tourists from Southeast Asia to make up the shortfall, but Huang is not optimistic. “To have to learn totally new languages, it’s very difficult,” she said.
The government last week approved a NT$30 billion (US$946 million) bailout for the tourism sector that includes loan extensions and assistance for the unemployed.
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