Taiwan pledges to improve tourist safety after Beijing shows concern
Taiwan has vowed to improve tourism safety after a senior mainland official expressed concern over the rising number of accidents involving mainland tourists.
'With so many mainland tourists visiting Taiwan every year, their safety is an issue of concern for both sides of the Taiwan Strait and we will step up efforts to improve tourism safety,' Taiwan's transport minister, Mao Chi-kuo, said yesterday.
His pledge came after reports that the mainland authorities were not happy with a growing list of accidents that have killed 32 mainland tourists and injured more than 120 in the past three years.
A train accident killed five mainland tourists in the scenic mountain resort of Alishan last week.
Shao Qiwei, director of the National Tourism Administration in Beijing, told China News Service on Tuesday that 'if there is no safety, then there is no tourism'.
The mainland-friendly government of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has permitted mainland tourists to visit the island in groups since late 2008 as part of its efforts to improve ties with Beijing. Last year, nearly 1.2 million mainland tourists visited the island, creating more than NT$60 billion (HK$16 billion) in tourist revenue.
That revenue is expected to increase when Taiwan allows visits by individual mainland tourists - a move expected before July 1. But the accidents appear to have annoyed mainland authorities.
Asked if the accidents would result in Beijing applying the brakes on the plan to allow trips by individual mainland tourists, Mao said he did not think so.
'It has nothing to do with our plan to allow mainlanders to visit Taiwan individually,' he said.
The director of Taiwan's Tourism Bureau, Janice Lai, said yesterday that when she met Shao during a Taiwan tourism fair in Beijing on Tuesday, he did not make any threats towards the island's tourism industry.
She said visits by individual mainland tourists would go ahead as planned before July 1.
Mao said the transport ministry would work hard to improve Taiwan's tourism infrastructure. Plans included improving roads to Alishan, in Chiayi, southern Taiwan, and upgrading the forest railway run by the Council of Agriculture, making it a branch of the Taiwan Railway Administration.
On the Suao-Hualien Highway in northeastern Taiwan, known for vulnerability to rain-triggered landslides, Mao said officials would measure rainfall every 10 minutes, instead of every hour. Heavy rain brought by Typhoon Megi late last year caused a landslide on the scenic highway that resulted in 26 deaths, including 21 mainland tourists.
