Group ban makes the travel industry exploit loopholes 2-2》Industry reminder: Participating in Chinese tour group travel disputes may lead to no way to seek compensation

China has banned Chinese tour groups and independent travelers from coming to Taiwan, and our country has countered by banning groups from traveling to China. Travel industry operators believe that the ban on group tours may lead to consumers having no way to seek compensation when they have travel disputes, so they should be aware of the risks.

In response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020, my country has banned travel agencies from sending groups to China. The ban was originally scheduled to be lifted in 2024. However, because Chinese officials banned Chinese tour groups and independent travelers from coming to Taiwan, Taiwan counterattacked and continued to ban group travel, and only independent travelers can travel to China. However, this newspaper has received complaints that some domestic travel agencies are openly selling Chinese tour group itinerary products, but adding words such as "cultural visit" and "free group travel" in the title to circumvent the ban on group tours and skirt the edges of regulations. If a consumer dispute arises, there may be no way to seek compensation.

Li Qiyue, chairman of the China Quality Tourism Development Association, said that the ban on group tours has been implemented for six years, but the number of tourists traveling to China has increased every year. Many people will turn to tour groups promoted by local Chinese travel agencies on Facebook, Douyin, and IG. However, if a travel dispute occurs, they often have no way to seek compensation. Taiwan's laws and regulations cannot help. They also need to communicate and negotiate with Chinese operators themselves, which poses a great risk to consumer rights.

Xu Jinrui, chairman of the Cross-Strait Travel Association, pointed out that the ban on group tours is not a reasonable regulation and should be guided by guest needs. "It is only natural that travel agencies provide services when tourists need them. If there are no restrictions, there will be no restrictions."

Liu Xilin, a professor at the Tourism Research Institute of Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, said that some travel agencies use methods such as receiving individual tourists, joining groups in China, or allowing people to organize their own groups and let travel agencies handle them for them to travel to China.

Liu Xilin pointed out that through travel agency management, insurance, etc., travel safety will be more ensured. If you organize a group trip to China by yourself, you need to go to China to seek compensation yourself if something goes wrong. Similarly, when people go to Japan to choose a local travel agency for a one-day itinerary, if there is a problem, they can only go to a Japanese travel agency to deal with it. People consider safety, itinerary arrangements, and even travel agencies can assist in the event of an accident, so they choose to join a tour group.

Liu Xilin said that tourism does not involve politics and other related matters. Normal cross-strait tourism exchanges should be resumed when the safety and welfare of the people are the priority. He can also understand the government's doubts about the Chinese market, so he also reminds consumers to choose carefully and pay attention to their own travel protection.

Gao Mingtu, a professor at the Department of Tourism at Shih Chien University, said that from a supply and demand perspective, the number of Taiwanese people traveling to China is increasing year by year, and there is indeed market demand. He suggested that the government should not overly intervene in the tourism market and return policies to market mechanisms.