ahlam1399
01-23-2017, 08:29 AM
Lunar New Year
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 **t high this year, after the number of mainland tourists plummeted 36 percent 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 ******," 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 **t 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 anti-missile 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 **vember and February.
The official calculated that thousands of potential travellers were lost after eight applications to add charter flights between the countries in January and February were rejected without explanation.
"This is **t a win-win situation - it is mutually disadvantageous.
But what can we do? As far as defence is concerned, we have ** 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 **t respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea inched up 1.8 percent on year in **vember, versus a 70.2 percent increase in August and a 22.8 percent rise in September.
That was the worst since August 2015, when arrivals slid 32 percent after a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak.
In early **vember, the United States said it would deploy the anti-missile system battery in South Korea within eight to 10 months.
China has **t said it is seeking to limit tourists to South Korea or Taiwan to express displeasure at political disputes.
Earlier this month, when asked about the limiting of charter flights over Lunar New Year, China’s Foreign Ministry said it did **t understand the details of the situation but that cooperation and exchanges between the two countries needed to "have a basis in public opinion".
For Taiwan, China has said it was natural that Chinese tourists were choosing **t to visit Taiwan at a time of political uncertainly.
By contrast, the Philippines and Malaysia are enjoying strong spurts in growth of Chinese tourism as Beijing removes travel warnings and eases visa rules.
Chinese tourist arrivals between March and December in Malaysia jumped 83 percent from a year earlier.
Both countries have been moving diplomatically closer to Beijing in recent months.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak returned from a **vember state visit with about $34 billion in deals, prompting criticism at home that he was "selling off" his country.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/SCw4DiIlpek
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/SCw4DiIlpek/181123-Playing-politics-Chinese-tourism-under-scrutiny)
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 **t high this year, after the number of mainland tourists plummeted 36 percent 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 ******," 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 **t 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 anti-missile 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 **vember and February.
The official calculated that thousands of potential travellers were lost after eight applications to add charter flights between the countries in January and February were rejected without explanation.
"This is **t a win-win situation - it is mutually disadvantageous.
But what can we do? As far as defence is concerned, we have ** 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 **t respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
The number of Chinese tourists visiting South Korea inched up 1.8 percent on year in **vember, versus a 70.2 percent increase in August and a 22.8 percent rise in September.
That was the worst since August 2015, when arrivals slid 32 percent after a Middle East Respiratory Syndrome outbreak.
In early **vember, the United States said it would deploy the anti-missile system battery in South Korea within eight to 10 months.
China has **t said it is seeking to limit tourists to South Korea or Taiwan to express displeasure at political disputes.
Earlier this month, when asked about the limiting of charter flights over Lunar New Year, China’s Foreign Ministry said it did **t understand the details of the situation but that cooperation and exchanges between the two countries needed to "have a basis in public opinion".
For Taiwan, China has said it was natural that Chinese tourists were choosing **t to visit Taiwan at a time of political uncertainly.
By contrast, the Philippines and Malaysia are enjoying strong spurts in growth of Chinese tourism as Beijing removes travel warnings and eases visa rules.
Chinese tourist arrivals between March and December in Malaysia jumped 83 percent from a year earlier.
Both countries have been moving diplomatically closer to Beijing in recent months.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak returned from a **vember state visit with about $34 billion in deals, prompting criticism at home that he was "selling off" his country.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/SCw4DiIlpek
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/SCw4DiIlpek/181123-Playing-politics-Chinese-tourism-under-scrutiny)