First solo travellers, now Beijing cuts group tours to step up pressure on Taiwan
- The decision will cut the island’s revenue by more than US$1 billion, according to one industry estimate
At least 300,000 fewer mainland visitors are expected to visit Taiwan on group tours over the next few months as Beijing steps up pressure on the self-ruled island ahead of its presidential election in January.
Taiwanese travel agencies and tour operators said their mainland counterparts had notified them that the cut would apply to tour groups from at least eight provinces and major cities: Guangdong, Zhejiang, Ningxia, Jiangxi, Shanghai, Sichuan, Beijing and Fujian.
Robert Kao, head of the policy development committee at Taiwan’s Travel Agent Association, said
some provinces had already started cutting group tours, with the aim of reducing the total number of visitors by 300,000 by the end of this year.
“This means, that together with the ban on individual visitors, one million fewer mainland residents will be visiting Taiwan by the end of this year,” Kao said.