Lawmakers on the Legislative Yuan’s Transportation Committee yesterday asked the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to convene an interdepartmental meeting to come up with measures to better regulate campsites nationwide.
The committee was scheduled to review an amendment to the Act for the Development of Tourism (發展觀光條例) proposed by New Power Party Legislator Hung Tzu-yung (洪慈庸) and 15 other lawmakers, which would make the Tourism Bureau the main regulator of camping activities.
The bureau would oversee the safety of campsites as well as campsite operators, the proposed amendment says.
The nation has nearly 2,000 campsites and the industry’s annual output exceeds NT$4 billion (US$133.65 million), Hung said, citing Camping Association data.
However, most of the campsites do not have licenses to develop or build facilities in forests or nature reserves, she said.
“The way campsite operators run their businesses is similar to that of hoteliers, but the former does not have a set of rules to follow,” Hung said.
The ministry should meet with other government agencies to stipulate supplementary regulations for campsite operators so that the rights of campers can be protected, she said.
However, the proposed amendment was rejected by the ministry, which said changes would not resolve the problems.
Changes in the registered purpose of land would be the first issue that needs to be addressed to help campsite operators run a legal operation, MOTC Deputy Minister Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said, adding that about 84 percent of campsites are built on properties where camping is not permitted.
The properties include farmland, pastures, forests and hillsides.
Although the ministry proposed amending the Agricultural Development Act (農業發展條例) and Regulations for Guidance and Management of Recreational Agriculture (休閒農業輔導管理辦法) to relax the use of farmland and patures, the Council of Agriculture said that only recreational farms can have campsites built on them, adding that the land must still be registered for agricultural use.
The council said it will not change the regulations so that agriculture can be permitted at campsites.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said the bureau has authority only over the campsites built in areas under its control.
However, campsites used by boy scouts are regulated by the Ministry of Education, whereas those in soil conservation areas, recreational farms, agricultural land and forests are regulated by the Council of Agriculture, he said.
Campsites in national parks are regulated by the Ministry of the Interior, Lin said, adding that those in geographically sensitive zones are regulated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Campsites on state-owned properties are obligated to follow the rules set by the National Property Administration, he said.
The MOTC needs to quickly hold cross-departmental meetings so that campsite operators would not remain unregulated and camping would become a family leisure activity, he said.
“The Tourism Bureau said that stipulating a specific law to regulate campsites is unnecessary, because each government agency already has laws to regulate the establishment of campsites. However, they never thoroughly enforce those laws. Local governments cracking down on illegal campsites have also proven to be ineffective,” he said.
DPP Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said an interdepartmental effort is required as it would be difficult for the bureau to manage all the nation’s campsites, because they vary in size and business models, such as campsites in Aboriginal villages or temporary campsites used during music festivals or those used by fishers.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai