Mainland visitors to Taiwan will not be allowed to gamble or engage in “pornographic activities,” China’s state news agency reported yesterday.
The warning was issued by the Cross-Strait Tourism Association, Xinhua News Agency said. It follows the signing of breakthrough agreements on charter flights and tourism promotion between the rival sides earlier this month.
“Travel agencies are not allowed to arrange gambling, pornographic and drug-related activities, and other activities harming cross-strait relations,” Xinhua said.
It did not explain what is meant by “pornographic activities.”
Chinese travel agency managers have arrived in Taiwan on a fact-finding mission to inspect tourism infrastructure, such as hotels and transportation.
They were to visit Sun Moon Lake yesterday, according to Taiwan’s Central News Agency. They were visiting the self-governing island for 10 days, the maximum allowed under the agreement that permits 3,000 mainland tourists a day to visit Taiwan.
The tourism agreement takes effect from July 4. Under a separate agreement signed in Beijing, 36 charter flights will be allowed to cross the 160-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait each weekend. At the moment, travelers from Taiwan to China must transit a third destination, such as Hong Kong.
Taiwanese hoteliers, airlines and tour operators hope big-spending Chinese tourists will prove a shot in the arm to the island’s travel sector, although limited capacity and continuing political differences between the longtime rivals dictate limits on numbers and itineraries.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
