Premier Chang San-cheng says Taiwan is keeping a watch on Chinese tourist numbers. That’s amid rumors that China has been limiting the number of tourists coming to Taiwan because of the transfer of power to the China-wary Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Chang said that China should not use artificial or administrative means to keep Chinese tourists from coming to Taiwan. Chang also said China has not given an official statement on the question of tourist numbers.
"We know that the other side has not verbally given us any position on this issue. I think they have their concerns. But we have been watching the numbers," Chang said. "We’ll look at this data, the change in numbers, and get an idea of what’s going on. The other side has not expressed a stance so we can’t say what the exact situation is."
Chang said he has heard that China has begun to use smaller airplanes for cross-strait flights, but said he will need to look into the situation. He said that up until mid-March, there has not been a drop in the number of Chinese tourists applying to come to Taiwan.
The premier also said that Taiwan has been working to promote itself in other tourism markets, such as the countries of Southeast Asia.