TAIPEI: Mainland tourists are complaining about traffic conditions in Taipei. The sentiments were revealed by a recent survey, the results of which were released yesterday.

The Taipei Municipal Government said it is working to unsnarl the traffic and make things better.

The survey, seeking opinions of mainlanders on several aspects of tour experiences in Taiwan, was undertaken by Kuomintang city councilor Tai Hsi-chin.

The survey showed 65 percent of respondents were satisfied with hotel services, 64 percent liked the food, but when it came to traffic conditions, the mainland travelers overwhelmingly handed the city a failing grade. Eighty-six percent of those surveyed expressed disapproval of traffic conditions.

Tai said the figures were based on the 490 responses from the 500 members of the travel industry to whom he sent questionnaires.

The survey also found that mainland visitors stayed about 1.5 days and spent NT$14,668 ($431) in Taipei during their visits.

The survey also showed that the 10 favorite tourist destinations in the city were the "National Palace Museum", Taipei 101 International Financial Center, the night market, "National Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall", Yangmingshan, Longshan Monastery, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, Chiang Kai-shek Shilin Residence, "National Museum of History", and Martyrs' Shrine.

Tai pointed out that since the number of mainland visitors is on the rise, Taiwan must not allow its quality as a tourist destination to degenerate. He urged the municipal government to improve traffic conditions in the tourist areas, and set up a tourist complaint hotline for Taipei city.

Lin Lee-yu, deputy commissioner of Taipei's Department of Transportation (DOT), said her department has been working to improve the situation. It has persuaded the military to release a piece of land near the "National Palace Museum" for the construction of a carpark big enough to hold 20 to 30 large coaches.

The Dr Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall has also been asked to remedy parking problems surrounding the facility.

The Education Department has been asked to give up a piece of land originally set aside for building a children's recreation and education center so that the DOT could turn it into a parking lot for coaches.

Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Information and Tourism Wu Chiu-mei said mainland tourists could call a 24-hour hotline 1999 should they run into problems.

Travel Quality Assurance Association's executive director Wang Chi-han pointed out that when the daily number of mainland visitors exceeds 7,000, the quality of tourist service and facilities will be compromised in considerable measure.

He stressed that issues concerning parking space, loading and unloading zones, and routing for tourist coaches must be satisfactorily resolved.

It has been agreed between the mainland and Taiwan authorities that the daily quota be capped at 3,000. The number of mainland visitors continued to rise in April and the maximum was reached many times.

Taiwan's Tourism Bureau Director Janice Lai recently predicted the total number of mainland visitors will top 600,000 this year.

China Daily

(HK Edition 05/26/2009 page2)