Tourism means more access

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-27 07:42

The Taiwan administration should be prepared for the interest of mainland tourists shifting from iconic tourist destinations to the grassroots communities, says an article in the Taiwan-based United Daily News. Following is an excerpt:

During the time Zheng Lizhong, vice-president of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) visited Taiwan, he was confined to hotels and conference halls with tight security and forced to drop his original plan of visiting the Shilin Night Market due to the "lack of ripe conditions".

Last year, Zheng's colleague, ARATS President Chen Yunlin, was harassed by some local protesters during his visit to Taiwan. To prevent the harassment from happening again, the administration beefed up security measures.

However, it's a great pity if mainlanders can't freely visit places with a typical Taiwanese flavor like Shilin Night Market and Keelung Miaokou Night Market.

It's not accidental for Zheng to list Shilin in his plan. Those who have visited Taiwan several times or have the curiosity to know the Taiwan grassroots community would choose to go to places like Shilin, for it is here that they can taste various types of snacks peculiar to the place and develop close contacts with locals.

Mainland tourists, whose numbers are on the rise, seem to be gradually moving away from the superficial schedule of trips to Ali Mountain, Sun Moon Lake and National Palace Museum. Instead, they appear to be keen on "in-depth tourism".

Meanwhile, we should ponder how to achieve more all-round interaction between tourists from the mainland and local Taiwanese. Only when Shilin Night Market and other street-corner stalls can be made accessible to mainland tourists at all times, will the exchange be beneficial.

For Taiwan, the opening of tourism to the mainland is not just for stimulating consumption, which would be a short-sighted goal but with a view to increase understanding and friendship between people across the Straits so as to reduce enmity, cushion conflicts, learn from each other and seek common ground.

Given this context, the Taiwan administration should offer more space to mainland tourists and let them have the opportunity and freedom to go down to the grassroots.

(China Daily 04/27/2009 page4)