Taipei – Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai will head for Beijing Friday to meet with Chinese officials on measures to address problems arising from the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists and the question of upgrading cross-Taiwan Strait travel quality.

Lai headed a group of Taiwanese travel agency executives on a visit to China for the first time last October in her capacity as chairwoman of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA).

During that visit, she met mainly with Chinese travel agents in an effort to attract more Chinese tourists to Taiwan.

This time around, she will make her first formal visit to the TSTA’s Chinese counterpart — the Cross-Strait Tourism Association (CSTA) — Tourism Bureau officials said Thursday.

Lai will meet with CSTA President Shao Qiwei, who concurrently serves as director of China’s National Tourism Administration, for an exchange of views on problems arising from the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists over the past year.

Taiwan relaxed restrictions on Chinese tourist visits July 4, 2008. According to Tourism Bureau statistics, 365,500 Chinese people have made sightseeing trips to Taiwan during the first year of the opening, representing an average of 1,001 people per day.

In addition to attracting more Chinese to Taiwan, Lai said she will also explore measures to upgrade travel service quality during her Beijing visit.

She will be accompanied by more than 20 TSTA officials and travel service operators on her visit.

WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:

Lai headed a group of Taiwanese travel agency executives on a visit to China for the first time last October in her capacity as chairwoman of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA).
Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai will head for Beijing Friday to meet with Chinese officials on measures to address problems arising from the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists and the question of upgrading cross-Taiwan Strait travel quality.
Lai will meet with CSTA President Shao Qiwei, who concurrently serves as director of China’s National Tourism Administration, for an exchange of views on problems arising from the opening of Taiwan to Chinese tourists over the past year.