Chinese tourists: Taiwan protests slump in tourist visits

TAIPEI: Thousands of tourism industry workers took to the streets in Taiwan Monday, demanding the government address a slump in visitors from China as cross-strait ties deteriorate. Operators who had previously benefited from a boom in mainland tourists under former President Ma Ying-jeou’s Beijing-friendly government are now only getting a fraction of the business as relations with China grow increasingly frosty under new president Tsai Ing-wen. The number of visitors from China has dropped almost 24% in the months since Beijing-sceptic Tsai took office in May, compared with the same period last year, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council. While Beijing has not publicly said it is seeking to limit tourists to the island, observers say it is a stealth pressure tactic on Tsai.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2016.

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