Quality control, honesty crucial to cross-strait tourism: agents

The 39-member Chinese delegation, composed of travel service professionals from 33 travel agencies around China, arrived in Taipei June 16 for an 11-day trip, one month before Taiwan is expected to open its doors to a significantly larger number of Chinese tourists.

It was the Chinese travel industry delegation’s first visit Taiwan since the two sides of the Taiwan Strait signed agreements June 13 on the launch of direct cross-strait charter flights on weekends and the expansion of Chinese tourist arrivals beginning in July.

“Honesty and credibility are the basic principles in creating a win-win situation for cross-strait tourism business,” said Fan Gui-shan, leader of the delegation and deputy chief secretary of the Cross-Strait Tourism Association.

The Cross-Strait Tourism Association is a private organization authorized by the China National Tourism Bureau to handle cross-strait tourism affairs. The parallel organization in Taiwan is the Taiwan Strait Tourism and Travel Association.

“Only with sincere and honest services can we keep the tourism market healthy,”Fan said at the seminar that was held for the two associations to exchange views on pertinent topics. “We must create a stable cross-strait tourism market — one that would inspire confidence among tourists, surety among members of the general public, and ambition among travel agencies to compete with each other.”

He added that on its visit to 22 counties and cities around the island, the delegation was very impressed with Taiwan’s rich tourism resources, various tour products and modern tourism facilities.

“We think Taiwan is ready to host Chinese tourists in July and we have great confidence in the Taiwan tourism market,” Fan said. “However, in order to create a healthy and sustainable market, we need to promote the business in a pragmatic way.”

Wu Chao-yen, executive secretary general of the Taiwan Strait Tourism and Travel Association, said that Taiwan and China share a common goal of forging a closer cooperative relations and creating a high quality tourism market.

“It is the goal of travel industry professionals on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to safeguard the quality and build a high-grade tourism market for consumers,” he said.

The first groups of 600 Chinese tourists are slated to arrive in Taiwan July 4, mainly from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Fujian.

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