Hong Kong's top travel industry operator said yesterday the new computerized entry visas, dubbed iPermits, will induce more Taiwan visitors to come to the former British colony.
Joseph Tung Yiu-chung, executive director of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, said the new visa granting measure, slated to go into force today, will help increase the arrivals of Taiwan visitors by at least 10 percent.
The iPermit Scheme makes use of the Internet and an automatic computer system to process the entry applications of Taiwan people to Hong Kong. Potential visitors will be able to submit their applications at an authorized office in Taiwan and will have their applications approved immediately, allowing them to travel to Hong Kong at any time.
Tung said the new visa scheme is conducive to soliciting more visitors from Taiwan since they will be able to save a lot of time. At present, Taiwan people must apply single-journey or multiple-journey Taiwan Visit Permits before they can enter Hong Kong. The processing of applications takes as long as 15 days.
Additional 10-15 percent of arrivals from Taiwan -- equivalent to 240,000 to 360,000 person/visits -- will generate an additional tourism revenue ranging from HK$1.1 to 1.6 billion a year for Hong Kong. A Taiwan visitor spent an estimated HK$4,400 per stay last year.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai