Taiwan’s opening policy to Chinese tourists and cross-strait relations: The impacts on inbound tourism into Taiwan

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the impact of Taiwan’s 2008 opening policy to Chinese tourists and the effects of cross-strait relations on both Chinese and non-Chinese inbound tourists into Taiwan, with controls in place for other factors. Using annual country-level panel data over the 2000–2016 period, along with the application of the generalized method of moments approach and several static panel data models, the empirical results suggest that while Taiwan’s opening policy to Chinese tourists has had an enhancement effect, there has been no crowding-out effect on either Chinese or non-Chinese inbound tourists into Taiwan. In addition, the cross-strait relations are found to have a negative effect on non-Chinese inbound tourists, but a positive effect on Chinese inbound tourists visiting Taiwan. We conclude that, compared to non-Chinese inbound tourists into Taiwan, the Chinese inbound tourists into Taiwan is both economically and politically oriented.