President Ma Ying-jeou said on Wednesday that Chinese tourists have been decreasing. He said the reason for the drop is political rather than commercial.
"A couple of days ago, I went to Kaohsiung. People are worried most about a decrease in tourists," said Ma. "They feel it is pretty obvious, but it hasn’t reached a peak yet. There have however been signs. This of course is not due to business factors, but rather political factors. People know this."
But President Ma said that Chinese tourists account for about only 40% of Taiwan’s visitors. He said in the past 8 years, visitors to Taiwan have grown from 3.7 million a year to over 10 million last year. Ma said in addition to Chinese tourists, there are also more visitors from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia.
Ma said that the growth in tourism was a result of peace across the Taiwan Strait and an increased open policy to Chinese visitors.