Call of reason beckoning Tsai to act now

The number of Chinese mainland visitors to Taiwan keeps shrinking even with the mainland's weeklong National Day holiday being round the corner.

When Ma Ying-jeou was the leader, the island used to be a popular holiday destination for many mainland tourists. The situation changed soon after Ma's successor Tsai Ing-wen, known for her equivocation on the 1992 Consensus and the one-China principle, assumed office on May 20.

Last week, more than 15,000 workers from the hospitality and tourism industries took to the streets in Taipei, demanding the island authorities change their policies, in order to help the ailing industry. Even if the number of tourists from the Republic of Korea increases by 100 percent, it cannot make up for a 5 or 10 percent drop in mainland visitors, according to a spokesperson for Taiwan Travel Agent Association.