MAC blasts PRC rule on tour operators

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 18, 2006. It reports that according to the Mainland Affairs Council, China should not ask to "verify" Taiwan's travel agencies if it is sincere about letting Chinese residents to come to Taiwan for pleasure.

Chinese authorities recently unveiled a package of rules that regulate Chinese people's trips to Taiwan. One specific rule in the package states that as Chinese tourists arrive in Taiwan, they will be received by "Taiwanese travel agencies whose names are publicized by the 'cross-strait tourism exchange association' after they are verified by the Chinese National Tourism Administration and related departments of the mainland".

Taiwan's travel agencies claim that this rule contradicts those in Taiwan, which were unveiled in 2002. The rules in Taiwan state that all those travel agencies who wish to receive Chinese tourists must have been operating for at least five years without any serious violations. They have to also pay an advance deposit of NT$1 million to the Tourism Bureau.

According to the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, about 100 travel agencies in Taiwan are eligible to receive Chinese tourists.

Taiwan's travel agencies are worried that since Taiwan's travel industry began receiving Chinese tourists who came to Taiwan via a third destination, nearly 100 Taiwanese travel agencies have been blacklisted by China. These agencies most likely will not be able to receive any Chinese tourist according to the aforementioned rule recently announced by China.

According to Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan will not accept such a rule. If the word "verify" means that the Chinese government will "designate" which Taiwanese travel agencies it likes or does not like, then it will be abusing the rights of the Taiwanese government. In other words, the government in Taiwan should be entitled to authorize the travel agencies without any interference from China.