Taipei, May 19 (CNA) Over the past 16 years, there has been a large generational gap in Taiwanese travel to China, with younger travelers more likely to go to China than older ones, according to a breakdown of national travel statistics. low.
According to the Taiwan Tourism Bureau, since direct flights across the Taiwan Strait were established in 2008, 38.15 million Taiwanese have traveled to China as of the end of 2023. It is the second most popular tourist destination after Japan (39.55 million people). .
Among these travelers, the most visitors to China (9.42 million) were in the age group of 50-59, followed by 9.35 million in the age group of 40-49.
Young travelers between the ages of 20 and 29 made just 2.9 million visits, demonstrating a significant gap in travel preferences.
By comparison, people aged 20 to 29 visited Japan 6.55 million times during the same period, 125 percent more than they visited China, the statistics showed.
Part of this gap may be due to the fact that there are more people who have worked in China or traveled between Taiwan and China for business, and that the group is older.
However, Ringo Li (Li Qiyu), public relations representative of the Travel Quality Assurance Association, also said that based on their experience of group travel, older generations are more likely to visit China for leisure travel than younger generations.
Part of the reason for this is the nature of Chinese travel, which emphasizes beautiful scenery and historical exploration, Lee said.
“(Young people) prefer vibrant, popular, attractive, shopping-oriented experiences where they enjoy food and buy things. They don't visit temples,” he said.
Young people may not think it's cool to travel to China, said Huang Chengzun, an associate professor at Providence University's School of Tourism.
“If young people take and share photos in China, they may not get positive feedback,” he says.
Both Lee and Huang said cultural affinities also influenced people's destination choices.
The older generation says that thanks to the education they received, they have a deeper understanding of China, and as a result, their interest in the country has increased.
Meanwhile, politics is also being factored into travel decisions, perhaps making young people more reluctant to travel to China in recent years, Li said.
After President Tsai Ing-wen (Tsai Ing-wen) took office, the number of tourists to China continued to increase, reaching a peak of 4.17 million in 2018.
But that number began to decline in 2019, particularly in July and August, which coincided with large-scale anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong.
The decrease in the number of visitors to China was seen in all age groups, with a decrease of 11.16% year-on-year in July 2019 and a decrease of 10.64% in August, but it was especially the case for those aged 20-29 and 30-39. It was most noticeable among young people.
Visits to China by people aged 20-29 decreased by 19.8% year-on-year in July 2019 and by 12% in August 2019, while visits to China by people aged 30-39 decreased by 16% in July and 8. It fell by 17% in March.
The future of travel to China
Lee said that regardless of age group, travel to China has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and has been very slow to recover, mainly due to Taiwan's lack of group travel to China. The main reason for this is the continued ban.
When China's borders reopened in 2023, Taiwanese made just 1.76 million visits a year, compared to more than 4 million a year before the pandemic.
Taiwan originally planned to resume organized tours to China in August 2023, but later postponed them to February 2024 due to continued cross-Strait tensions.
However, by February, China had not agreed to allow its tourism groups to visit Taiwan, so Taiwan again banned local tourism groups from going to China in the name of reciprocity. Decided.
As a result, tours scheduled from March 1st to May 31st of this year were able to be held, but tours scheduled after June 1st were cancelled.
Li said the policy U-turn was disappointing, citing high demand for booking tours, particularly to China's Xinjiang province and Inner Mongolia.
Noting that cross-strait tourism accounts for about 40% of Taiwan's aviation and travel sector market, Li said: “Of course, we hope that tourism exchanges between the two countries will be restored as soon as possible.” Ta.
Huang said the number of Taiwanese non-group tour visitors to China will reach about 200,000 per month in the second half of 2023, a recovery of about 60% compared to pre-pandemic levels.
But he suggested that even if cross-strait tourism were to fully resume, Taiwanese visits to China could remain at about 80% of pre-pandemic levels due to political factors.
“China's stance toward Taiwan in recent years has been very firm,” Huang said. Many people may find this unpleasant.
(Written by Liao Wenqi and Li Xingyin)
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