Local travel agencies are anticipating a major rise in their European business this year following Taiwan’s inclusion in the EU’s visa-waiver program starting tomorrow.
While Vincent Lin (林承瞱), vice president of Lion Travel Service Co, one of the nation’s biggest travel agencies, said recently he had yet to see a significant increase in the number of bookings for this month or the Lunar New Year holiday next month, he attributed this to the recent snowstorms in Europe, that have caused travel delays.
He was optimistic that when the weather improves, Lion’s European travel business would rise.
Under the EU visa-waiver program, holders of a Republic of China (ROC) passport will be permitted to visit 35 European countries visa-free for up to 90 days within a six-month period.
The waiver applies to the 25 Schengen Area countries — which comprise 22 EU member states and three non-EU states (Norway, Iceland and Switzerland) — and three non-Schengen EU member states (Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus). It also includes seven smaller European countries and territories: the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
The Taiwanese government is working to obtain visa waivers from other countries, with the goal of increasing the number from 97 to 100 countries this year.
Anthony Liao (廖文澄), general manager of Phoenix Tours International Inc — the nation’s only publicly traded travel agency — forecast a 30 percent year-on-year increase in the company’s bookings for Europe to 13,700 this year.
He predicted that Phoenix’s European sales this year would jump 40 percent from a year ago to NT$1.15 billion (US$39 million).
Liao based his estimates on the 40 percent growth in the number of Taiwanese tourists to the UK after London waived visa requirements in 2009.
European trips account for about 30 percent of Phoenix’s revenues, he said.
A Taiwanese importer of European cars also welcomed the implementation of the visa-free program.
Chen said he makes at least six business trips a year to Germany, adding that, overall, the company applied for Schengen visas 70 times last year.
Although the Schengen visas cost Taiwan Audi only about NT$170,000 per year, the visa-waiver program will greatly help the company reduce paperwork and raise administrative efficiency — a prospect that is more valuable than money, Chen said.
Making sure that staff had new ID photos for visa applications was the most troublesome part of preparing for business trips because the photos are only valid for three months, he said.
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