China is going to limit tourism to Taiwan to 5% of normal levels in the one month period leading up to Taiwan’s presidential election.
That was the word from Ko Muchou, deputy chairman of the Taipei Association of Travel Agent on Wednesday.
Taiwan makes over NT$140 billion from tourism a year, 70% of which comes from Chinese tourists. Restrictions on tourism are set to take effect on December 16 and will extend through the election on January 16. Ko said that restrictions will not make much of a difference in the number of tourists for 2015 but it might decrease the number of visitors for 2016 by 10%.
When Taiwan opened up to Chinese tourists in 2008, they accounted for only 5% of visitors to Taiwan. Now they make up 40%. Meanwhile, visitors from Hong Kong and Macau have fallen from 25% to 18%, while those from Japan have fallen from 38% to 15%.