Posted on 01/12/2002 5:18:18 PM PST by Enemy Of The State
WITH AGENCIES
China banned travel agents from organizing sightseeing tours to Taiwan despite expectations that Taipei is set to allow Chinese tourists to visit the nation, local media reported yesterday.
The China National Tourism Administration (°ê®a®È¹C§½) issued an order barring Chinese tourist offices and travel agencies from arranging pleasure trips to Taiwan, according to reports.
The administration -- which runs the China International Travel Service (¤¤°ê°ê»Ú®È¦æªÀ) -- is the highest tourism authority in China. It forms China's tourism policies, controls travel agencies and supervises hotels.
Officials from the administration were unavailable for comment yesterday.
Taiwan currently only allows Chinese to visit the nation for family reunions or professional purposes such as seminars, research programs, cultural activities and sports events.
While still not legal, Chinese "tourists" have already made visits to Taiwan under the guise of business or cultural tours, with around 100,000 mainland Chinese recorded as visiting the country last year.
Taiwan partially dropped the ban on Chinese tourists on Jan. 1, allowing Chinese students studying abroad or Chinese who have obtained residence in foreign countries to visit Taiwan.
Direct visits by mainlanders for pleasure are still banned but there is widespread hope that that bar will soon be lifted.
Beijing would not allow any unauthorized travel in Taiwan and agents who violated the directive could have their licenses revoked, according to reports.
Deng Ming-chang (¾H©ú©÷), secretary-general of the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (¥x¥_¥«®È¦æ¤½·|), said yesterday that the move by China constituted a serious blow to travel companies that are anticipating the arrival of Chinese tourists, according to the Ettoday news Web site.
Millions of Taiwanese have visited the mainland since Taipei allowed civilian exchanges in late 1987.
So why do they blame Beijing?
Actually Taiwan doesn't want to see Mainlanders visiting the island.
Actually the travel agencies in the Mainland are not interested in getting people to Taiwan. There are not many tourist attractions in Taiwan and the travel expenses are much higher and it costs you twice as much as you visit South Korea.
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