No Taiwanese were injured or killed in the terror attack outside the British parliament on Wednesday, the ministries of foreign affairs and education and the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
All 177 Taiwanese tourists currently in London are safe, including 68 on tours with Lion Travel Service Co, 77 with South East Travel Service Co and 32 with Comfort Travel Service, the bureau said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not changed the status of is travel alert for the UK, which remains gray, the lowest level on the ministry’s four-color alert system.
Gray means that tourists should be aware of their surroundings and heed their own safety.
The ministry also said that Taiwan’s representative office in London had activated an emergency plan to ensure the safety of Taiwanese expatriates and students in the UK, adding it is maintaining close contact with the British government.
The Ministry of Education said that there are 3,920 Taiwanese students studying in Britain, with about 2,000 in the Greater London area.
Lion Travel Service general manager Andy Yu (游國珍) said that some of the popular tourist attractions in central London, including the Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, the Elizabeth Tower and the Palace of Westminster, have been closed to the public following the attack and it is not clear how long these destinations would remain closed.
Lion has a tour group arriving in London today, and if those sites remain closed, the agency might consider changing the group’s itinerary, Yu said, adding that the agency is closely monitoring the situation in London.
The company has 245 more tourists set to leave for UK tours in the next six days and so far no one has asked to cancel their trip, he said.
Sales of tours to the UK have risen fourfold this year compared to the same time last year due to a decline in the British pound, he said.
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