Editorial Raises Concerns About Influx of Tourists from China

I have always been skeptical that an influx of tourists from China will be (1) a good thing; and (2) last very long. Taiwan News offered an editorial on (1) today that brought up some of the issues:

First, since there are no formal channels of communication or regulatory cooperation between Taiwan and the PRC, the cost of dealing with commercial disputes, crime, illegal overstays and other costly side effects will be borne disproportionately by the Taiwanese.

Even in countries with negotiated deals, PRC tourists have been associated with major public safety problems in Europe and Japan.

For example, after the European Union liberalized entry for PRC citizens last September, PRC citizens have been exploiting the simplified procedures to engage in mass human smuggling, and the number of overstays and use of illegal entry documents has soared.

We believe that Taiwan should not arbitrarily lift restrictions on PRC tourism until cross-strait discussions with government commissioned agencies can take place.

We must also consider issues such as what kind of tourism Taiwan needs, what kind of tourist sites will benefit from an influx of PRC tourists and what will be the opportunity costs for other types of tourist development.

Recently Japan has extended visa-free entry to Taiwanese, and when China complained, pointed out that Taiwanese don't cause the problems that Chinese tourists do.

[Taiwan] [tourism]