Tourism Rep: With New China-Taiwan Flights, No More Picking Sides

Direct flights between Taiwan and mainland China are making it easier for American travelers to visit both locales on the same trip to Asia, said Michael Chang, director of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau's New York office.
Airlines operate about 100 nonstop flights between Taipei, Taiwan's capital, and 15 Chinese cities every week, Mr. Chang told GlobalAtlanta during a dinner event promoting Taiwan in metro Atlanta.

The range of the routes has expanded steadily since the signing of a landmark agreement last August that allowed passenger and cargo flights across the Taiwan Strait for the first time in 60 years.

This new access stems from warming economic and cultural ties between the nations since the March 2008 election of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party. His platform emphasized a tighter relationship with the mainland.

?Taiwan and China now have a very strong relationship,? Mr. Chang said.

That's a shift from the traditional stance. The two sides have been at odds since the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in 1949 following a long civil war. The Nationalists fled the mainland and formed a government on Taiwan. Since then, the self-governing island has considered itself an independent country, while China considers it a wayward province.

With the new flights, U.S. travelers don't have to pick and choose. Unprecedented travel flexibility means they can conveniently visit both places without traveling to Asia twice, Mr. Chang said.

?If you want to visit Taiwan and China in one trip, you don't have to waste your time and money again,? he told an audience mainly comprised of travel agents and airline personnel at St. Ives Country Club in Johns Creek.

Before the direct flights, travelers had to transfer planes in Hong Kong, turning a flight from Taipei to Shanghai into an eight-hour ordeal. Now it's just a two-hour jaunt.

The flights are one of many benefits promoters are selling as they recruit Western leisure tourists to the island. Taiwan has traditionally been known almost solely as a business destination for American travelers, but in 2010, the government is taking strides to promote Taiwan as ?your next tourism destination,? Mr. Chang said.

A greater proportion of Taiwan's visitors are visiting for leisure. Last year, 72 percent of 365,000 U.S. visitors were conducting business trips to Taiwan, down from 85 percent in 2002, Mr. Chang said.

When they reach Taiwan, Americans will find a variety of attractions, including a beautiful mountainous landscape, an advanced culinary scene, ubiquitous night markets and the largest collection of Chinese art in the world, he said.

?You have to visit our National Palace Museum. We have 650,000 pieces of Chinese treasure in the museum. We need 20 years to show everything, every item. I believe it's one of the most wonderful museums in the world,? Mr. Chang said.

The U.S. trails Japan, Hong Kong and China (in that order) as Taiwan's top tourism markets.

The number of Chinese visitors has grown rapidly since restrictions were loosened. Some 600,000 Chinese tourists visited Taiwan in 2009, during which tourism as a whole declined by about 4 percent. About 1 million Chinese visitors are expected this year, Mr. Chang said.

He shrugged off the suggestion that the influx causes a fear of Chinese encroachment in Taiwan. The mainland's government ultimately seeks reunification and has said that it would annex the island by force if necessary. The U.S. soured its relationship with China by forging ahead with a $6.4 billion arms sale to Taiwan earlier this year despite strident Chinese objections.

For Taiwan's restaurant and hotel owners, revenue is often more important than politics, Mr. Chang said. 

China Airlines, a Taiwanese carrier, has nonstop flights to Taipei from New York, Los Angeles and Vancouver, Canada. A code-share agreement with Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. means that travelers can book a single ticket from Atlanta to Taipei with a transfer at one of those hubs. Members of Delta's SkyMiles program can earn miles on those flights.

Eva Airways Corp., also based in Taiwan, has flights between Taipei and Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Newark in the U.S. and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada.

If visiting China first, travelers can take advantage of Delta's expanded China route map. Although last year it nixed a nonstop flight to Shanghai from here, the airline offers one-stop access from Atlanta to Shanghai and Hong Kong via Detroit and from Atlanta to Beijing via Seattle. Both Eva and China Airlines have flights from those cities to Taiwan.

Sourced=globalatlanta