SIX COMPANIES WITHDRAW FROM MARKET AS CHINA TOUR NUMBERS DROP|陸客團6旅行社退場 申請停止接待業務

After the bus fire in which 26 Chinese tourists perished, the number of Chinese tourists to Taiwan has again dropped significantly. Even the number of independent tourists, which has been more or less stable until now, started to drop in July. This year, six travel companies which focus exclusively on Chinese tour groups have applied to withdraw from the market, a first since the market was opened to Chinese tour groups 8 years ago. There are still many Chinese tourists in the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall taking photos of the soldiers' flag raising ceremony. However, the numbers are noticeably fewer than before. Tourism Bureau figures show that compared to June last year there were 36,609 fewer Chinese visitors, a reduction of 11 percent. Companies that exclusively handle Chinese tour groups also say they used to handle three groups a month and now there are only one or two. ==MR HE Tour Guide== There are very noticeably fewer groups, its the same at every tourist site. In 2008, when President Ma Ying-jeou came to office the numbers of Chinese visitors coming to Taiwan rose rapidly to last year when there were 4 million. However, from May this year, numbers have dropped by one third every month with 1,500 to 1,650 fewer people a month. As a result, this year 6 companies have withdrawn from the market, applying to the TB to stop taking on Chinese tour groups and getting back their NT$1 million guarantee against non-returning Chinese tourists. ==TANG WEN-CHI Tourism Bureau Committee member== There are 400 companies who are allowed to take Chinese tour groups. According to past statistics about half of travel companies, maybe about 200 actually take Chinese groups, so the others may well consider getting back their guarantor fee. Apart from this, the number of applications for independent Chinese travelers which was previously stable dropped in July after the coach fire. ==LEE CHI-YUE Travel Agent Association of ROC spokesperson == Usually this sort of big accident involving tourists will have an effect for three months and of course there are the cross strait political considerations which have an effect, too. The TB says it will continue to communicate with China on the issue of fewer Chinese tour groups and try to address the issues which cause this. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 拿出相機拍下一張張的照片，國父紀念館的大廳裡，有不少大陸觀光客在欣賞憲兵儀隊交接，但跟以往相比人數少了不少，根據觀光局的資料顯示，跟去年6月相比，來台的陸客減少36609人，大約下滑了11.88%，專帶陸客團的導遊也說，以往1個月可以帶3團，現在只剩下1到2團。 ==陸客團導遊 賀先生== 大概數量有少非常多 蠻明顯的 到各個景點去看也是一樣 事實上從2008年馬政府執政開始，來台觀光陸客快速成長到去年的400萬人，但自從今年5月政黨輪替後，陸客團每天大約縮減三分之一，約少了1500人到1650人左右，也因為如此，今年已經有6家專做陸客團的旅行社，向觀光局申請停止接待陸團，並取回防止陸客拖團不歸繳交的100萬保證金。 ==觀光局專門委員 湯文琦== 我們有400多家的 接待資格的旅行社 其實裡面就是按照 過往統計的話 將近是有一半的數量的旅行社 可能200(家)上下在接陸客團 所以有將近200多家 也是沒有在接 那這部份 它可能會考量到 自己資金的運用 除此之外，一向穩定的自由行陸客，在上個月國道火燒車事件後，7月底申請的數量也開始出現減少。 ==旅行公會全國聯合會發言人 李奇嶽== 通常這種重大的旅遊事故 都會影響到後面3個月的 來台旅客的意願 當然也有受到一些 兩岸的政治氛圍上面 也會受到一些影響 面對陸客團、自由行陸客人數逐漸減少，觀光局表示，將會持續與陸方溝通，也會著手研擬各項因應方案，來降低衝擊。 記者吳雅瑜 吳嘉堡 台北報導