TOURISM
Bureau forecasts growth
Foreign tourist arrivals could increase from last year’s record 7.3 million to 7.7 million this year, with China and Southeast Asian countries the main sources of growth, the Tourism Bureau said. Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) said the bureau would step up efforts to lure wealthy travelers from China, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam because they are showing increasing buying power. Last year there were record high numbers of tourists from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Malaysia and Singapore, which suggests an increasing potential in the regional market, the bureau said. The number of travelers from Hong Kong and Macau broke the 1 million mark last year to reach 1.01 million, up 24.3 percent year-on-year, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said. The tourism sector generated NT$340 billion (US$11 billion) in foreign exchange last year, bureau statistics show.
DIPLOMACY
Burghardt arrives for visit
American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Burghardt arrived in Taipei last night for a five-day visit, the institute said. Burghardt was scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and several major figures in politics and business, it said in a statement. It is Burghardt’s 14th trip to Taiwan since he took up the top AIT post in February 2006, the statement said. Burghardt was the director of AIT’s Taipei office from 1999 to 2001. He is also the director of East-West Seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.
TRAVEL
Ministry offers flood advice
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an advisory yesterday that the southeastern areas of the Australian state of Queensland are suffering from flooding and warned travelers to the area to pay attention to personal safety. The capital of Queensland, Brisbane, and areas of Ipswich, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast are all affected by the floods caused by torrential rain, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. It reminded Taiwanese students, young people on working holidays, expatriates living in Queensland, tourists and businesspeople planning to travel there that they should stay away from low-lying areas or places close to flooded rivers. The ministry also warned travelers of possible traffic stoppages in the Greek capital of Athens, which has been hit by a series of wildcat strikes by mass transportation system workers.
MUSIC
Producer excited over award
Award-winning US musician Daniel Ho yesterday said he was excited about a Taiwanese Aboriginal album he produced being nominated for a Grammy award for Best World Music Album, and he hoped to introduce the nation’s Aboriginal music to the world. Ho, a six-time Grammy Award winner, said he visited Taiwan three times over the past year to work with six Aboriginal artists on the album, titled On a Gentle Island Breeze (吹過島嶼的風). Ho said that while they do not speak the same language, music has no boundaries and he expressed hope of bringing more Aboriginal melodies from Taiwan to the world stage. Singers on the album include Hao-en (昊恩), a Puyuma, and Amis singer Illid Kaolo, recipient of Best Aboriginal Singer, Best New Artist and Best Aboriginal Album at the Golden Melody Awards last year. Ho’s album was produced by his production company and Taipei-based Wind Music International. The Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.
TRAFFIC SAFETY RULES: A positive result in a drug test would result in a two-year license suspension for the driver and vehicle, and a fine of up to NT$180,000 The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is to authorize police to conduct roadside saliva tests by the end of the year to deter people from driving while under the influence of narcotics, it said yesterday. The ministry last month unveiled a draft of amended regulations governing traffic safety rules and penalties, which included provisions empowering police to conduct mandatory saliva tests on drivers. While currently rules authorize police to use oral fluid testing kits for signs of drug use, they do not establish penalties for noncompliance or operating procedures for officers to follow, the ministry said. The proposed changes to the regulations require
The Executive Yuan yesterday announced that registration for a one-time universal NT$10,000 cash handout to help people in Taiwan survive US tariffs and inflation would start on Nov. 5, with payouts available as early as Nov. 12. Who is eligible for the handout? Registered Taiwanese nationals are eligible, including those born in Taiwan before April 30 next year with a birth certificate. Non-registered nationals with residence permits, foreign permanent residents and foreign spouses of Taiwanese citizens with residence permits also qualify for the handouts. For people who meet the eligibility requirements, but passed away between yesterday and April 30 next year, surviving family members
China Airlines Ltd (CAL) yesterday morning joined SkyTeam’s Aviation Challenge for the fourth time, operating a demonstration flight for “net zero carbon emissions” from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. The flight used sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at a ratio of up to 40 percent, the highest proportion CAL has achieved to date, the nation’s largest carrier said. Since April, SAF has become available to Taiwanese international carriers at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Kaohsiung International Airport and Taoyuan airport. In previous challenges, CAL operated “net zero carbon emission flights” to Singapore and Japan. At a ceremony at Taoyuan airport, China Airlines chief sustainability
‘ONE CHINA’: A statement that Berlin decides its own China policy did not seem to sit well with Beijing, which offered only one meeting with the German official German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul’s trip to China has been canceled, a spokesperson for his ministry said yesterday, amid rising tensions between the two nations, including over Taiwan. Wadephul had planned to address Chinese curbs on rare earths during his visit, but his comments about Berlin deciding on the “design” of its “one China” policy ahead of the trip appear to have rankled China. Asked about Wadephul’s comments, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said the “one China principle” has “no room for any self-definition.” In the interview published on Thursday, Wadephul said he would urge China to
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