Tourism shares surge on Chinese FIT travel reports

 The government will allow Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan under the so-called foreign independent tour (FIT) model, reported both of Taiwan's major business dailies, The Financial Times and The Economic Daily News, yesterday, citing their interviews with Premier Wu Den-yih.

Currently, Taiwan allows 3,600 mainland tourists to visit Taiwan per day, on a group travel basis.

Premier Wu, however, drove home the point Taiwan will open itself more to the international community, after the signing of the cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA).

Allowing Chinese FIT travels is part of a series of measures to be launched by the government in the so-called post-ECFA era, Wu said. Other measures will include inviting more overseas businesses to invest in Taiwan, and signing free trade agreements with more countries.

He said agreements on Chinese FIT travels may be reached by the end of the year, and FIT tourism may begin by next year's Lantern Festival ? 15 days after the Lunar New Year ? at the earliest.

He said the government will be more ?judicious? during the policy's first stage and will allow only 300 to 500 FIT visitors each day. The island will first open itself to FIT tourists from five Chinese metropolises, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Chongqing and the Jiangsu Province, he said.

Having Chinese FIT visitors in Taiwan is expected to boost consumption at hotels, restaurants and other tourist facilities, Wu said. Apparently investors felt the same way as they actively purchased tourism shares yesterday.

Formosa International Hotels Corp., the island's largest hotel operator, surged 6 percent to NT$449, the highest since June 1, 2009.

Ambassador Hotel Ltd., the second-largest, gained 1.8 percent to NT$40.05, the highest since Dec. 9. Leofoo Development Corp., Taiwan's largest theme-park operator, advanced 1.5 percent to NT$20.10.

Sourced=chinapost