Chinese-Taiwanese tourism overcomes political tiffs

TAIPEI – Despite China enacting a new tourism law Taiwan said on Saturday a record 2.85 million Chinese nationals visited the island last year, up ten per cent from 2012 although

group arrivals dropped slightly.

The number of solo Chinese travellers surged 174 per cent to 522,000 people compared with
191,000 in 2012, the government informed. But group arrivals fell 4.6 per cent to 1.69 million, after Beijing outlawed forced shopping trips prompting operators to raise the price of package tours, officials said.

The dramatic rise in tourist numbers is indicative of the increasingly warm ties between Taiwan and China. Once bitter foes, Taipei and Beijing have had no official contact in 65 years. But relations have improved significantly since Ma Ying-jeou of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party came to power in 2008. He was re-elected in January 2012.

This month a minister from Taipei will visit the mainland in the two sides’ first official contact in six decades.

The number of tourists visiting Taiwan from the mainland has shot up ever since Taipei lifted a ban on Chinese group tourists in 2008 and allowed solo tourists in mid-2011.