Taiwan bans group tours to China

Until recently, Taiwan had planned to commence group tours to China. However, according to officials, Wednesday’s three-year ban on Taiwanese tour groups travelling to China is in response to a “lack of goodwill” from China. Taiwan cites Beijing’s failure to reciprocate group trips and its alteration of flight paths, which Taiwan claims will “affect aviation safety”.

“After taking the change of circumstances and the safety of Taiwanese travellers into account, it has been decided that the [group tour] plan will no longer be implemented,” Taiwan Tourism Administration said.

Taiwan was set to resume group tours to China after the Lunar New Year holiday. However, the Administration has now requested the cancellation of any tours planned from June onwards.

While China has allowed outbound group tours to many countries since Covid-19, the government hasn’t mentioned future plans to permit trips to Taiwan. Taiwan urged Beijing to “open up group tours to Taiwan for mainland travellers as soon as possible”.

This news comes after market insights firm Research and Markets predicted a significant global travel increase for China over the next few years.