A direct charter flight service between Kinmen and Hualien is to be launched on June 20 to promote tourism in the two counties, the Kinmen County Government said in a statement on Sunday.
Twelve travel agents in Kinmen are collaborating with Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT) to launch the service with the aim of attracting more tourists to the two counties, it said.
The flights would not only promote tourism, but also cut the cost of travel from Kinmen to Hualien, where the tourism sector was badly affected by a deadly earthquake on Feb. 6 that scared tourists away, Kinmen Tourism Bureau Director Chen Mei-ling (陳美齡) said.
In the medium to long term, Kinmen hopes to build a better, more convenient outbound transport system and work with travel agents in China to attract more Chinese tourists to Hualien and neighboring Taitung County through Kinmen by focusing on tourist attractions in the two eastern counties, Chen said.
The maiden flight is expected to be serviced by a 165-seat McDonnell Douglas MD-80, which would take passengers on a three-day visit to Hualien.
The same plane would also carry passengers from Hualien on its return trip, the department said.
The travel package to Hualien would cost NT$7,999 per person, it added.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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