Beijing: Representatives from Taiwan’s tourism industry attending a forum organized by think tanks run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Kuomintang (KMT) in Beijing on Tuesday expressed a desire to expand cross-strait exchanges.
According to Focus Taiwan, the forum, titled “Prospects for Cross-Strait Exchange and Cooperation,” was jointly organized by the Cross-Strait Relations Research Center of the CCP’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) and the KMT’s National Policy Foundation (NPF).
The event is seen as a precursor to a potential meeting between KMT leader Cheng Li-wun and CCP leader Xi Jinping, anticipated in the first half of the year. Lai Se-jen, founding chairperson and director of the Taiwan Tourism Interchange Association (TTIA), noted that 15 tourism-related participants joined the KMT delegation, representing various sectors such as travel, hotels, catering, tour guides, and meetings and exhibitions.
During the forum, Taiwanese tourism operators proposed several initiatives to enhance cross-strait tourism. These include lifting the ban on group tours, fostering exchanges and cooperation between private organizations and industries, and expanding direct travel links for Chinese residents outside Fujian Province to access Kinmen County and the Matsu Islands. Additionally, they proposed promoting group tours from Shanghai and Fujian Province to Taiwan and improving service quality while enhancing safety and consumer rights protections for Taiwanese travelers to China.
Lai emphasized the need for adjustments in current flight services and destinations, advocating for airlines to modify routes and frequencies to align with market demand, with the aim of normalizing sea and air transport promptly.
Taiwan’s government has underscored the importance of prior communication through the “Two Small Associations” to restore cross-strait tourism. These associations are connected to the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the China-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS). Taiwanese officials have stated that lifting the group tour ban must be contingent on China ensuring the safety of Taiwanese travelers.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which manages Taiwan’s relations with China, reported that there were 221 incidents in 2025 involving Taiwanese citizens going missing, facing detention for questioning, or experiencing restricted personal freedom in China, representing a significant increase from 2024. The MAC has urged caution for those traveling to China and called on Beijing to reopen tourism links through negotiations between the two small associations.
Currently, Taiwan permits Chinese tourists to visit the island via third locations and allows group and individual travelers from Fujian Province to visit Kinmen County and the Matsu Islands. However, the ban on group tours to China, initiated in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remains in place. Although authorities announced in late 2023 that the ban would be lifted starting in March 2024, the government has continued to prohibit group tours amid deteriorating cross-strait relations.