英文摘要 |
The operations of off-shore shipping center in 1997 and “mini three links” in 2001 were the cornerstones of cross-strait transport links between Taiwan and China. The “mini three links” service gradually meets the need for cross-strait visiting relatives, sightseeing tourists and business people. Compared with 2001, the number of passenger trip through this channel increased 40 times with 4.66 million trips in 2008. The tremendous performance of “mini three links” indicates that there is huge demand for cross-strait visit and tourism. Furthermore, the signing of agreements between Taiwan and mainland China in November 2008 officially announced the beginning of “grand three links”; that would not only allow the operation of direct shipping and flight links between Taiwan and China, but also gave permission to more tourists of China traveling to Taiwan. In the end, this open policy will enable more interactions between two sides across the Taiwan Strait. The main purpose of this study is to explore how the passenger shipping operators to start providing services for tourists traveling between Taiwan and China. Two major issues are investigated: (1) the current situation and future development of cross-strait passenger shipping, and (2) using binary logit model to explain consumer's modal choice behavior. In this study, stated preference questionnaire was utilized for data collection; then, using the survey data to establish a consumer utility function to understand the travelers' demand properties and quality requirements for passenger ferry service between Taiwan and Fujian province of China. It also analyzes the important key factors affecting the modal choice decision. |