Chinese tourism under scrutiny as Lunar New Year nears
SHANGHAI/ BEIJING: With 6 million Chinese tourists expected to travel abroad over the Lunar New Year break, China’s Jan 27 to Feb 2 holiday is crucial for Taiwan tour agency operator Li Chi-yueh, who relies on mainland visitors for a third of his revenue.
But Li’s hopes are not high this year, after the number of mainland tourists plummeted 36 per cent since President Tsai Ing-wen took power in May. Though Tsai says Taiwan wants peace with China, Beijing suspects she seeks formal independence.
“China uses its sightseeing tourists as a diplomatic weapon,” said Li, owner of Taipei- based Chung Shin Travel Service, who has been representing Taiwan’s tour operators to lobby Tsai to improve ties with Beijing. “There’s a lot of concern that the industry won’t survive if we carry on like this.”
The concern is not confined to Taiwan - tour operators and government officials elsewhere in Asia say they fear China is using its increasingly high- spending tourists as a lever to pressure or reward its neighbours.
A government official from South Korea - which has irked China by agreeing to let the United States deploy an antimissile system - said Chinese and Korean tour companies had told him the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) had instructed Chinese agencies to cut tours to South Korea by at least 20 percent between November and February.
The official calculated that thousands of potential travellers were lost after eight applications to add charter f lights between the countries in January and February were rejected without explanation.
“This is not a win-win situation - it is mutually disadvantageous. But what can we do? As far as defence is concerned, we have no room to compromise,” said the official, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Chinese companies told him the measure was designed to cut an excessive number of low- quality, low- priced tours for Chinese tourists visiting Korea, the official said. The CNTA did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.