Taipei: The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has called on Chinese authorities to engage in discussions with Taiwan regarding "familiarization trips" that are being planned to prepare for the resumption of tour group visits by residents from Shanghai and Fujian province.
According to Focus Taiwan, the MAC emphasized that to ensure that future tourism exchanges are conducted in a healthy and orderly manner, all matters related to these familiarization trips should first be discussed through "the two cross-strait tourism associations." The Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA) will soon reach out to the Association For Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits (ATETS) to propose discussions on mutual concerns. These associations, established by Taipei and Beijing, respectively, serve as platforms for coordination and negotiation on tourism-related matters across the Taiwan Strait.
The MAC's statement was a response to an earlier announcement by Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), which acts as the MAC's counterpart. Chen confirmed that organizers of familiarization trips had submitted applications to Taiwanese authorities to visit Taiwan and expressed hope for smooth proceedings. Chen stated that the visits by tourism professionals from both regions could lay a solid foundation for the resumption of group travel for residents of both areas.
Currently, China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT) permits only Fujian residents to visit Taiwan-held Kinmen and Matsu, excluding other cities or counties in Taiwan. However, on January 17, the MCT announced plans to resume group travel to Taiwan for residents of Fujian province and Shanghai. The resumption aims to promote the normalization of interactions across the Taiwan Strait and regularize exchanges in various fields.
In 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese visitors made up about a quarter of all foreign visitors to Taiwan. However, this tourism income source has significantly dwindled, with independent and group travel largely halted by Chinese authorities for over four years.