As the Chinese New Year approaches, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that it will resume group tours for residents of Fujian and Shanghai to Taiwan in the near future, and various tasks are currently under active preparations. This move is in line with the common wish of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to be peaceful, develop, exchange and cooperate. It is welcomed by compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, especially the people on the island and the tourism industry, and is regarded as a "New Year gift package" by relevant operators on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Fujian has a natural and deep kinship with Taiwan, and Shanghai has a close interaction with Taiwan and strong tourism demand. Every festival is coming, and the demand for people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait has increased significantly. Choosing this time node to release news has made compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait very excited.
When the news came, tourism operators in Fujian and Shanghai responded and immediately made preparations for product planning, team leader training, contact and docking for Taiwan team tours. Fujian Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone has even issued the "Seven Measures to Promote Cross-Strait Team Tours" to make the "New Year Gift Pack" more substantial. According to mainland tourism platforms, three hours after the news of the team tour to Taiwan was released, the number of searches related to Taiwan on the platform increased by 48%.
The tourism industry on the island is like a long drought and is very welcome to the recovery of group tours from Fujian and Shanghai residents to Taiwan, and actively prepare to welcome tourists from Fujian and Shanghai. Many Taiwan's tourism-related stocks rose sharply, fully demonstrating the expectations of mainland tourists for traveling to Taiwan. Public opinion on the island pointed out that the new policies of the mainland will inject new vitality into Taiwan's tourism industry and effectively promote the recovery of Taiwan's tourism market.
Comrades on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are family and should come and go frequently. Sightseeing tourism allows compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to enhance their understanding and deepen their feelings through face-to-face contact and direct life experience, and also allows the benefits of cross-strait exchanges to benefit the grassroots level and maintain peace and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait. The mainland has always actively promoted the normalization of cross-strait personnel exchanges and the normalization of exchanges in various fields. In 2023, it announced the resumption of group tours for Taiwanese residents to the mainland. In 2024, arrangements have been made for Fujian residents to travel to Matsu and Kinmen and group tours on the island. A series of good-willed measures have been widely welcomed by all walks of life on the island.
In contrast, the DPP authorities banned mainland residents from going to Taiwan under the pretext of the COVID-19 pandemic, and stopped travel agencies on the island from operating group tours to the mainland. So far, the "group ban order" has not been lifted. In June last year, the warning for Taiwanese residents to travel to mainland China was raised to "orange", refusing to respond to the call for a full resumption of direct cross-strait passenger flights, and has also been slow to respond to the application for chartering from Pingtan to Taiwan by the Taiwan tourism industry. All these are different.
Of the nearly 4,000 tourism operators on the island are engaged in business dealing with the mainland, and many of them specialize in the mainland market. The actions of the DPP authorities have seriously hindered the exchanges between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and have also caused great harm to the tourism industry and related transportation, accommodation, catering and other practitioners on the island. Last year, the number of overseas tourists came to Taiwan was not good, and the tourism deficit in Taiwan exceeded NT$700 billion. Many hotels and travel agencies on the island went bankrupt one after another. During this year's Spring Festival, the hotel booking rate hit a new low, causing the tourism industry to become a "tragic tourism industry."
The DPP authorities ignored the dilemma of tourism on the island, ignored the voices of industry and the public, and continued to delay and hinder the normalization of cross-strait tourism. They were selfish, afraid that the mainland people would enter Taiwan and the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait would get closer and closer, so that the "information cocoon" they carefully constructed collapsed, and the "Taiwan independence" proposition they advocated lost the market. They even turned against each other, claiming that "the cross-strait tourism exchanges are hindering the mainland." The DPP authorities disregarded public opinion and moved against the current for political self-interest, which was condemned by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The general trend of cross-strait exchanges is unstoppable, and compatriots' willingness to get closer and see relatives cannot be disobeyed. The mainland has always warmly welcomed and strongly supported the majority of Taiwanese compatriots to participate in cross-strait cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation, and will continue to create better conditions and provide better services for Taiwanese people to travel to the mainland. The DPP authorities should comply with public opinion and respond to goodwill, lift various obstructions on cross-strait tourism exchanges as soon as possible, and promote the restoration of cross-strait exchanges and cooperation in various fields, including tourism, with practical actions.
