A group of 13 people from Xiamen City, Fujian Province, took the "Jinxing 6" ship at about 11:00 a.m. on September 18 and successfully arrived at Jinmen Shuitou Wharf for a 3-day and 2-night journey. The group visited the popular scenic spots in Kinmen and exchanged discussions with local travelers, so as to "explore the way" for the subsequent resumption of normal sightseeing for mainland tourists.
It is reported that on the morning of the 18th, the first stop of the first trampling group went to Shuitou settlement to visit "Deyue Tower" and "Jinshui National Primary School" to experience the strong overseas Chinese hometown culture; in the afternoon, it was arranged to experience the immersive tourism of Jinmen sorghum wine in "Jingwu Wine Cellar" 5 senses, and then went to Shenghengchang Jinhu Square to inspect its operation and development, and had an exchange discussion with hotel travelers. On the 19th and 20th, he visited Tianpu Reservoir, Shanhou Folk Village, Chen Jinglan Yanglou and Huxia Seawall and other famous scenic spots in Kinmen. On the afternoon of the 20th, he took a boat at 14:30 and returned to Xiamen via the "mini three links".
All walks of life in Kinmen paid attention to it, including Hong Yundian, chairman of Kinmen County, and Li Wenliang, deputy county magistrate, who led a team to receive the ship in a large array. They also arranged lion dance drum array to warmly welcome the arrival of Xiamen trampling group, hoping to smoothly resume the normal "door-to-door" sightseeing of mainland tourists from now on.
Li Wenliang, deputy head of Jinmen County, said that after the arrival of the trampling tour organized by Xiamen Tourism Association, we must feel that Jinmen is ready to welcome mainland tourists. They expect and are confident that the tour group will definitely leave a very good impression on Kinmen's tourism energy. After Xiamen tourism representatives step on the line, they also hope to get some feedback and give Kinmen some valuable opinions, so as to strengthen tourism resources to welcome mainland tourism groups that have been away for five years.
Li Wenliang also revealed that information has been received so far that the first mainland tourist group has submitted an application, hoping that the review process can be completed as soon as possible. He said that if everything goes smoothly, it can be restored to about 400,000 to 450,000 tourists a year from the mainland, which will definitely be very good for all walks of life in Kinmen.
Hope that the Taiwan authorities will comply with public opinion and accept the goodwill released by the mainland
Since the DPP came to power in 2016, it has refused to recognize the "1992 Consensus", resulting in a sharp drop in the number of mainland tourists and seriously affecting the livelihood of Taiwan tourism operators.
The island's tourist hotel industry said that mainland tourists did not come, at least 2 million people less. According to the industry, from the perspective of consumption power, tourists from other regions cannot make up for the lost business opportunities for mainland tourists."Based on the average cost of NT $50,000 to NT $80,000 per mainland tourist coming to Taiwan, the tourism industry loses at least 100 billion a year. Yuan business opportunity". Wang Chaoyi, chairman of the Fengjia Business Circle Management Committee in Taichung City, said that although the DPP authorities expanded Southeast Asian tourists to Taiwan, their spending power was much lower,"business circle consumption was reduced by at least half."
Chen Yuzhen, a representative of China's Kuomintang, said that mainland tourists have been suspended for five years and now it is a new stage. In the past, mainland tourists have laid a good foundation for Kinmen tourism. I believe Kinmen will definitely strengthen the quality of service and tourism facilities. I hope group visitors or free travelers will arrive as soon as possible. Everyone opens their hands and welcomes mainland tourists.
Zhou Boyin, director of the Tourism Bureau of Taoyuan City, said that some operators estimate that the annual performance will be 30% less than last year. Tainan City hotel and homestay accommodation rate of about 70%, slightly higher than the average accommodation rate in Taiwan. Wu Juntai, chairman of the Tainan City Hotel Association, said that since the beginning of this year, tourism in Taiwan has been affected. Although overseas tourists have increased, they still cannot offset the loss of tourists. The industry expects Lai Qingde authorities to fulfill their promise to resume mainland tourists visiting Taiwan.
Li Qiyue, chairman of the Taiwan China Quality Tourism Development Association, previously pointed out that Taiwan's "ban on groups" to the mainland has not been lifted, and the tourism "orange warning" is also on, and if the Taiwan authorities can further release goodwill, it will be beneficial to cross-strait peace and will be welcomed by the tourism industry.
Taiwan's "Wang Bao" editorial also said that it hoped that the Taiwan authorities would comply with public opinion, accept the goodwill released by the mainland, and provide more convenience for cross-strait people's exchanges.
Earlier, Chen Binhua, spokesman of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China, said in response to a question from Taiwan's "Dongsen News" reporter that the work of Fujian residents traveling to Kinmen has been steadily advancing. In the next step, we will continue to promote Fujian residents to travel to the island through direct sea passenger flights in accordance with the established work arrangements. [Source/Shenzhen Satellite TV Direct News WeChat/Yang Ying]