Following the bus fire on National Freeway No. 2 that killed 26 people on Tuesday last week — 24 Chinese tourists and a Taiwanese tour guide and driver — Premier Lin Chuan (林全) yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to conduct a full investigation of the tourism industry to improve safety.
“[A well-developed] tourism industry is a symbol of an advanced nation, we hope to increase Taiwan’s visibility in the world through a better developed tourism industry,” Lin said during the weekly Cabinet meeting. “It is therefore critical to improve the quality of tourism in Taiwan — and the focus should not only be on investing in hardware, but also in software.”
Lin said that the ministry should start immediately inspecting all sectors of the tourism industry, focusing on the causes of major accidents in the past — including possible or previously identified problems with tourism destinations, accommodation, facilities and transportation.
“The ministry should also propose amendments to laws concerning travel agencies, hotels and transportation,” Lin said.
The premier said the bus fire showed that there are major potential problems that need to be immediately addressed in the “all-in-one” (yitiaolong, 一條龍) travel services offered to Chinese tour groups.
“I have asked Minister without Portfolio Chang Ching-sen [張景森] to work on it,” he said.
The “all-in-one” travel service refers to Chinese tourism services whereby the travel agency, the hotel and the stores where tourists shop are owned by the same Chinese company.
Besides “all-in-one” travel services, issues around Chinese tour groups include long working hours for drivers, low quality services and rushed itineraries.
The Directorate-General of Highways began inspecting all tour buses in the wake of the fire.
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