The government is to revisit the “Kuan Hung Pilot Project” after 152 of 153 Vietnamese visitors in tour groups went missing last week, the largest group of runaway tourists since the project began in 2015, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
The project to issue electronic visas is designed to increase the number of quality tour groups visiting from India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos — nations targeted by the New Southbound Policy.
The tourists were able to travel to Taiwan because of the project, bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said, adding that the agency would strengthen visa reviews.
Photo copied by Huang Liang-chieh, Taipei Times
It would also work with the National Immigration Agency (NIA) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) Bureau of Consular Affairs to randomly select applications for additional inspection, Chou added.
Asked if the government would consider revising the project, Chou said that the Tourism Bureau has been notified that it should soon attend a meeting of the Executive Yuan’s Tourism Development and Promotion Committee to discuss problems facing the project.
“What happened last week was an isolated case. There are still quality tour groups and we should not view the project with so much negativity,” the Tourism Bureau said. “The NIA still needs to investigate details involving this incident and we will propose complementary measures accordingly to handle similar situations.”
The tour groups were formed by Vietnamese travel agency International Holidays Trading Travel, then were taken over by ETHoliday (東森國際旅行社) upon arrival.
After the incident, the Bureau of Consular Affairs canceled the visas granted to 182 tourists who had booked trips with International Holidays Trading Travel, but have not yet entered the country, the Tourism Bureau said, adding that it has also stopped reviewing visa applications filed by the agency.
Travel agents said that the incident is an example of how human traffickers are able to exploit loopholes in the project.
ETHoliday last week handled five tour groups from Vietnam, Taiwan International Tourist Aid Rescue Association chairman Roget Hsu (許高慶) said.
The first group of 23 people arrived in Kaohsiung on Friday for a five-day tour, while the four other groups with a total of 130 tourists entered through Tainan Airport on Sunday for a four-day tour, he said, adding that all five groups spent the night at two hotels in Kaohsiung.
Human traffickers reportedly arranged cars to pick the visitors up at the airports, Hsu said.
The first group’s Taiwanese tour guide resisted and called the police, who said they could not make any arrests, as the tourists had valid tourist visas, he said.
Seven visitors in the first group had left by Monday morning, while the remaining 16 went missing by Tuesday morning, he said.
Of the 130 tourists who arrived on Sunday, 128 went missing by Monday morning, while one other had left by Tuesday, Hsu said.
Tourists from the countries included in the program are not required to present a financial statement when applying for a visa, so Vietnamese travel agencies should help by running preliminary checks, he said, adding that it is unreasonable that Taiwanese travel agencies should have to pay for the deportation cost of every runaway tourist.
The one remaining visitor was the only real tourist, meaning that even the tour guides were disingenuous, the Tourism Bureau said.
All of the visitors had purchased round-trip tickets, it added.
The NIA has obtained the list of tourists from ETHoliday and are searching for the missing people.
MOFA said it has revoked the visas of the missing travelers and has asked the NIA to locate and deport them.
It also urged the Executive Yuan to call a meeting to discuss ways to tighten visa application reviews.
Since 2015, 414 tourists arriving through the project have been reported missing, 409 of whom were Vietnamese, while five were Cambodian, Tourism Bureau data showed.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
RSS