The legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday voted to unfreeze the budget allocated to several Ministry of Transportation and Communications projects, but a large part of the meeting centered on the debate about daily charges for Chinese tourists.
While the government requires that each Chinese tourist be charged no less than US$60 per day to ensure quality tours, several legislators said some travel agencies were willing to offer tours that cost less.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) questioned the US$60 figure, saying some travel agencies could offer tours that cost between US$20 and US$30 per day.
Another KMT legislator, Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), said the average market price for travel agencies in the south was about US$28 per day, whereas those in the north was US$35 per day.
Some tour groups have even claimed they could offer zero-charge tours, she said.
“If things continue like this, the cross-strait tourism market will be finished in no time,” Lo said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) said some companies may have charged US$60 per day, but secretly refunded US$25 to customers.
In response, Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai said that tourism officials from both sides were meeting in Macau today to talk about tour quality and charges. Taiwan will suggest that both sides set a minimum daily charge for Chinese tourists.
The Beijing government does not have a similar requirement on the minimum daily charge for Chinese tourists in Taiwan, she said.
Lai said the bureau had penalized five Taiwanese travel agencies for violating regulations governing the management of Chinese tourists.
Lai added that the bureau was working with the Directorate General of Highways to check the age and condition of tour buses rented by travel agencies to see if they meet government requirements.
She said the bureau could now quickly inform the National Immigration Agency (NIA) of any violating travel agency so the NIA could stop issuing entry permits for tourist handled by the travel agency.
Lai also scotched the rumor that Chinese tourists were banned from visiting Taiwan from tomorrow through May 20 because the DPP is holding a large protest on May 17, saying that their information from the Cross-Strait Tourism Association (海峽兩岸交流協會) was that the Chinese government had reminded tourists to watch their personal safety during this period.
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