Abstract
The Taiwan government has imposed a daily visitation quota with strict regulations on Chinese visitor travel modes, length of stay, and visa authorisations since July 2008. This highly controlled scheme was an attempt to maintain service quality over security and political considerations. The purpose of this study is to provide an in-depth analysis regarding the Chinese tourist satisfaction over time under different travel modes. The results indicated that package tour (PT) visitors generally gave higher satisfaction scores than free and independent travel visitors. However, PT visitors demonstrated a decreased level of satisfaction on their tour arrangements of hotels, meals, and itineraries. Addressing safety and environmental issues is the priority task in order to provide quality travel services.