Taiwan pledges to boost travel quality for mainland

SHANGHAI - Taiwan tourism authorities Friday promised further measures to ensure travel quality for mainland visitors amid a tourism boom from across the Taiwan Strait.

David Hsieh, chairman of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA), told that the organization has taken concrete steps to protect the interests of the increasing amount of mainland visitors, especially during peak tourist seasons.

Local tourism service providers will be required to follow instructions on receiving mainland tourists in peak seasons. These instructions cover tour scheduling, accommodation, food hygiene, transportation, recreational facilities and other travel safety issues, he said on the sidelines of China International Travel Mart (CITM) 2012.

Moreover, inspections will be conducted to ensure the quality and safety of places that mainland tourists often visit, as well as that of the vehicles that they often take. Measures will also be taken to control the number of visitors at popular spots, Hsieh said.

Tourism authorities will also boost quality checks on the applications of mainland tourist groups and carry out traveller satisfaction surveys after the trips end. Inspectors will be sent to mainland tourist groups to find out how they are received, according to Hsieh.

Local authorities have also required sightseeing buses to operate for no longer than 10 hours and run no more than 250 kilometers per day, and transportation regulators will help check travel records, he said.

A total of 30 tourists from the Chinese mainland were injured in a road accident in eastern Taiwan's Hualien county in September. Earlier this year, another two road accidents occurred in the same area, leaving two mainland tourists dead.

Strict policies will also be implemented to protect mainland shoppers in Taiwan, and travel agencies will be encouraged to plan high-quality and in-depth tourism products to attract more independent visitors to the island,  Hsieh added.

Mainland tourists made 1.89 million trips to Taiwan in the first nine months of this year. By the end of September, a total of 6.475 million trips to Taiwan had been made since mainlanders started traveling to Taiwan in groups in July 2008.