The Tourism Bureau yesterday unveiled a ※Taiwan Tourbus and Railway Tour Passport§ designed to facilitate travel around the country.
Tourism Bureau Director-〝General Janice Lai (羜聝藟) said the passport was inspired by a system used in Japan.
※We have selected 10 travel routes from Taiwan Tour Bus [鷋婼庥恞玃痹] and incorporated train services provided by the Taiwan Railway Administration [TRA], making it easier for both domestic and overseas tourists to travel around the nation,§ she said.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Taiwan Tour Bus service is available daily, and each of the tour buses will also have a tour guide on board.
The passport will introduce 10 routes, including one-day tours of the northeast coast, Sun Moon Lake, Kenting, Taroko Gorge and the East Rift Valley. It will also contain two TRA coupons, a coupon for a cruise on Sun Moon Lake and coupons to 19 theme parks and 50 hotels countrywide.
The bureau said the coupons could be used separately. The TRA coupons, for example, can be exchanged for tickets at two of 14 designated railway sections. Passengers can use the coupons to board any train service that is available and use them on different departure dates.
The TRA deal expires in December.
The passports cost NT$1,499 each and are available for 〝purchase online as well as at local travel agencies.
The first 1,000 customers to buy a passport will get it at a special price of NT$999. Following the special offer, the bureau will offer another 10,000 passports for NT$1,297 each.
Travelers can also purchase the passports through the overseas ticketing agencies of China Airlines and Eva Air.
For more details, visit the Taiwan Tour Bus Web site at www.taiwantourbus.com.tw.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard