The Tourism Bureau has come under criticism from opposition lawmakers for allowing Chinese tourists to disregard regulations requiring them to stick to routes submitted to the government prior to arrival in Taiwan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-chin (葉宜津) said that tour groups often add shopping stops to their itineraries at the last minute.
Large tour buses are violating standing regulations prohibiting buses from visiting mountainous areas, such as Lugu township (鹿谷) in Nantou County, Yeh said.
GPS data shows there have been 10 buses in the Lugu area since June.
The Directorate-General of Highways’ cloud servers store GPS data from Chinese tour buses, which also shows 99 percent of the tour buses have deviated from the itinerary routes, Yeh said, adding that the Tourism Bureau needs to follow up on details.
Tourism Bureau official Lai Ping-jung (賴炳榮) said the bureau found nearly 487 illegal destinations in travel itinearies submitted to the government from January to September this year, adding that in 143 of those cases fines have been issued.
Most of the incidents include unreported changes to travel plans, arranging for tourists to stay at unapproved hotels and exceeding the quota of shopping centers stops allowed, Lai said, adding that some cases were noted as infractions, several travel agencies were ordered to suspended business and others had their licenses revoked for not paying fines.
Directorate-General of Highways director Chao Hsing-hua (趙興華) said that if aware which roads were off-limits to buses, it would issue fines against companies breaking the law.
Lai said that at present, travel plans submitted by Chinese tour groups do not indicate which route are to be taken on their journey.
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 US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative.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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition