Evaluating Taiwan’s Policy of Opening Tourism to Individual Mainland Chinese Tourists: A Sruvey of Travel Agencies

• Main Authors: Li-Ching Kuan, 關麗卿
• Other Authors: 陳明通
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/91311568213271450414

碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 國家發展研究所 === 101 === Taiwan and China had been separated for half a century. The R.O.C. government unlocks the tense situation by allowing Taiwanese people to visit their relatives in Mainland China since 1987. Since the cross strait tourism began in 2000 after the Legislative Yuan passed the Cross-Strait Agreement Concerning Mainland Tourists Traveling to Taiwan in order to stimulate domestic tourism market, the mainlanders travelling to Taiwan have largely increased in number. However, the general public has no feelings about the economic upturn. In addition, the zero-fare competition and forced-shopping in some particular shops have caused huge problems to travel agencies. In order to promote and develop tourism as well as boost economy in various industry sectors, the government decided to open the door for mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan. According to the Tourism Bureau, the total amount of mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan reached to 387,300 at the end of May 2013. Moreover, not only the number of cross-strait flights has increased to 616, and the destinations, 61 cities per week, but also the quota for mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan has adjusted to 2,000 people. The Tourism Bureau put lots of endeavors to attract mainland tourists through its offices in Beijing and Shanghai, and help travel agencies to get ready for the booming industry. Government officials optimistically predict that the mainland individual tourists will surge up. However, the results of mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan do not meet the expectation at the inauguration of this policy. Government data show that there are only 496 out of 3,197 agencies in Taiwan are capable of receiving mainland tourists and only two tenths of the 496 agencies are receiving mainland individual tourists, contrary to government officials’ high expectations. Why is that? Is it due to the mistakes of the policy or the restraints of the regulations? Is it because of the economic consideration or the different point of view between government and general public? To answer these questions, this study tries to utilize the statistical methodology and depth interviews to dig deeper into the phenomenon to fulfill the following research purposes: 1. To explore the formation and decision-making aspect of the policy of mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan, this study analyze the policy background at the present stage, including how to revise the policy to adjust the domestic and international environment, and to probe the effects of wide open to the mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan. 2. To evaluate the inner part of the policy, this study utilizes the policy evaluation approach to analyze whether the policy has brought the advantages or disadvantages to Taiwan. 3. To provide suggestions on the policy of mainland individual tourists traveling to Taiwan, this study utilize questionnaire and depth interviews on agencies, tour guides, and practitioners to understand the questions behind the policy, and provide the evaluation outcomes and suggestions for the future research as well as for the government for a better regulation-making. This study’s suggestions are as follows: 1. The government should implement supporting measures. 2. Multiple Communication Channels between government, academic, and the industry. Revise the regulations and policies properly as well as consult and manage the agencies simultaneously. 3. Enlarge the propaganda from both sides, and the mainland government should speed up the viewing process. 4. The governments from both sides should put severe penalties and punishments on the bad agencies.