China on Thursday said that recent decline in the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Taiwan is due to existing market conditions, claiming that the Chinese government has never set a quota on Chinese tourists traveling to Taiwan.        

"The change in tourist numbers is mainly driven by the market and based on the willingness of tourism operators and tourists. The government has never set any quota to limit the number of tourists traveling to Taiwan," spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council An Fengshan said at a news conference on Wednesday.

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Fengshan also blamed recent political tension in cross-strait relations for the fall in Chinese tourists. The tension has been particularly high since Taiwan's presidential election in January gave a landslide victory to pro-independent leader Tsai Ing-wen, who was sworn in as Taiwan's President last month.

"This year, the political situation in Taiwan and cross-Straits relations have changed, triggering concerns from tourism operators and tourists on the mainland. Thus, their willingness to travel to Taiwan has declined," An said.

Earlier this week, the Taiwanese media claimed that China is planning to significantly cut down its quota of Taiwan bond tourists in three stages. The report said that the move started in March and would continue till October.        

Experts say that Taiwan's tourism sector would be the first to bear the brunt if cross-strait relation takes a hit. According to a statistics released by Taiwan's tourism bureau, the average number of daily Chinese tourists witnessed a sharp drop of 33 percent or 1,650 people since the beginning of May.

Chinese tourists have been a source of economic revenue for Taiwan. As per a rough estimate, Chinese tourists contributed NT$230 billion (S$9.7 billion) to the Taiwanese economy last year.

Tagschina, Taiwan, Taiwan Tourism, Cross-Strait relation