Kaohsiung city, South Taiwan
Thousands of Chinese tourists are cancelling trips to Taiwan. Lin Fu-nan, head of the Southern Taiwan Tourism Industry Alliance, said that many hotels in Kaohsiung have reported cancellations from entire Chinese tour groups. Lin told Focus Taiwan News Channel that hotels in the south of the country have reported falling occupancies since the beginning of August equate to nearly 10 thousand cancellations. This is causing concern throughout the Taiwanese travel industry, and the outlook for September is not good with room bookings down 65% on this time last year.
Lin attributes the decline in bookings to eroding profit margins for Chinese tour operators. Recent regulatory changes introduced by the Taiwan Tourism Bureau which reduced daily visitor fees for Chinese tour groups from US$80 to US$60 per person. This actually cut away at the tour operators’ profits as many had were charging discounted fees of US$20 per day, making them less willing to run tours.
Lin also said that current arrivals of independent mainland travellers are falling far short of projected figures and that the deflated numbers are threatening the viability of direct flights between Kaohsiung and cities on the Chinese Mainland.
Lin appealed to the bureau and the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council to take up the issue which will threaten many other businesses as well.
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