Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) was yesterday grilled by DPP lawmakers who vowed to strictly scrutinize the bureau’s international marketing budget following a series of reported blunders in its materials aimed at the US market.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) mentioned blogger Kathy Cheng’s criticism of the bureau’s efforts and criticized the bureau for blocking her from commenting on its social media accounts.
Noting the bureau budgets about NT$1 billion (US$33.41 million) annually for overseas campaigns, Lin asked how the money is spent.
The contractor in charge of the campaign for Middle Eastern nations, who was paid NT$15 million, had created a Web site for free, but the site has only attracted about 6,000 page views, Lin said.
The bureau’s Web site aimed at Vietnamese has only 600 page views, while a site in Indonesian on Taiwan was not been authorized by the bureau and has been accused of copyright infringement, Lin said.
Chou said the bureau would review all these problems and seek to address them at meetings with officials at its overseas branches.
Cheng also took aim at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications over the bureau’s NT$40 million travel subsidy program announced on May 15 for tour groups that visit southern Taiwan and Penghu County.
Tourist visits to Chiayi County dropped by almost 40 percent last year, and yet the county was not included in the subsidy scheme.
The ministry would recommend that Executive Yuan include the county in the program, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said.
Under the program, members of tour groups whose itineraries include weekday visits to destinations or tourism to any of five areas — the Siraya National Scenic Area in Tainan, the Maolin National Scenic Area in Kaohsiung, the East Coast National Scenic Area or the Penghu National Scenic Area — and who spend at least one night in one of the areas, would receive NT$500 per day for accommodation.
However, the subsidies are capped at NT$30,000 per group for those visiting eastern or southern Taiwan, and NT$50,000 per group for Penghu, the bureau said.
Independent tourists traveling in a group of at least three are also eligible for an accommodation subsidy as long as they spend two consecutive nights at the same hotel: the second night’s stay would be free.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
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