The Tourism Bureau yesterday said the government is to establish a travel-quality inspection team in July, following a series of violations by Chinese travel agencies and tour guides.
Tourism Bureau Director-
General David Hsieh (謝謂君) made the announcement at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, where he briefed lawmakers on the bureau’s plan to develop tourism in Taiwan.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said that not all businesses in Taiwan reap the benefits of an increase in Chinese tourists, adding that the nation now has several Chinese-funded travel agencies that work with Chinese travel agencies to bring tourists here.
These Chinese-funded agencies “bring Chinese tourists to the souvenir stores they own in Taiwan to shop. Many of them sell items imported from Hong Kong, ” Lo said.
“This ‘total solution’ model could help generate a revenue of NT$1 billion [US$32.75 million] per month, which has made them more profitable than some of the public companies,” she said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said that the number of international visitors to Taiwan has increased by 1 million each year in recent years, topping 9.91 million last year. However, the quality of tours or tourism facilities has not matched the rapid increase in the number of visitor arrivals, he said.
Aside from food safety issues, there is the problem of constant congestion at some popular tourist attractions and train stations, as well as a shortage of public toilets in scenic areas.
The increase in Chinese tourist numbers has also driven up hotel room rates and caused a shortage of large tour buses to rent, he said.
KMT Legislator Yang Li-huan (楊麗環) cited a news report about a Chinese billionaire treating more than 6,000 of his employees to a trip to France who were given a private tour of the Louvre Museum in Paris and visited other French cities. She asked if Taiwan would have sufficient capacity to accommodate similar requests.
In response, Hsieh said that a tour-quality inspection team is to be established on July 1 to carry out random inspections and raise the inspection rate from 2 percent to 5 percent.
Bureau statistics showed that violations found during previous inspections included failure to provide invoices for items purchased, changing itineraries without informing relevant authorities, tourists traveling with a group using visas issued to independent travelers and having uncertified tour guides.
Between 2012 and last year, the government found 5,620 cases in which souvenir shops had to make up for unpaid taxes. The taxes to be repaid totaled more than NT$1.1 billion.
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