Taiwan's tourism employees take to streets amid ailing industry

Around 10,000 people employed in hospitality and tourism in Taiwan took to the streets in downtown Taipei on Monday, demanding the island's authorities respond to the ailing industry, which has seen Chinese mainland visitors plummet in recent months.

This marked the sector's first ever demonstration, according to the organizers, which include the island's hotel, travel agent and tour bus associations.

"Tens of thousands of people have depended on the industry for their livelihood over the past a few years," said Ringo Lee, a spokesperson for the island's Travel Agent Association. "We have to help them with a solution."

The number of mainland visitors, which rose to about 4.2 million last year, has declined since Tsai Ing-wen took office. The fall was largely attributed by observers on the island to Tsai's refusal to recognize the 1992 Consensus, which includes the one-China policy. Her attitude has left mainlanders feeling both puzzled and unwelcome, they say.

According to data released by the island's authorities, although the number of individual visitors from the mainland has remained stable, the number of tourists visiting the island on group tours has declined by about 30 percent over the three months since May, compared with the same period last year.

In May and June alone, the number of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan decreased by more than 80,000 from the same period last year, according to the island's travel agency.

As a result, many people in the sector, who depend on visitors from the Chinese mainland for their livelihood, are suffering.

Lu Yi-Tseng, a tour guide from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, was among them. Lu and his wife, who is pregnant, marched on the front lines of the demonstration on Monday despite drizzling rain.

Lu told Xinhua that he had been laid off since May because there were no tour groups to lead.

"My wife will give birth to our first baby in a month and we don't know how we can get the money to cover the cost," said Lu.

People who own businesses in the industry have been hit even harder. A local woman surnamed Su told Xinhua her travel agent used to handle about 160 tour groups per month in the past few years, but now receives fewer than 10.

"I am unable to pay my employees and I haven't had a sound night's sleep since May," she said.

Just days before the demonstration was staged, the island's authorities approved a plan to provide 30 billion new Taiwan dollars (about 945 million U.S. dollars) in loans to the local tourism sector to aid the businesses and facilitate the upgrading of their services.

However, insiders said it would take time for the policy to produce any impact on the industry and the most urgent thing was to attract more visitors to the island. Endi