Taipei, Taoyuan and Hsinchu City are to be included in the Tourism Bureau’s winter domestic travel subsidy program next month in compliance with a resolution passed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday, the bureau said, adding that the budget for the program would be increased from NT$980 million (US$31.8 million) to NT$1.3 billion.
The bureau is to subsidize tour groups and independent travelers, regardless of where they visit, it said.
It previously excluded independent travelers to the three cities from receiving the subsidy on the grounds that average hotel occupancy rates in the three cities in the past three years were above 50 percent.
Local government officials and hoteliers criticized the policy as it was.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) yesterday vowed to press the Executive Yuan to replace bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) if he refused to change the policy.
Many tourists cancel their hotel reservations in Taipei and visit cities so they would be eligible for the subsidies, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism Commissioner Chen Su-yu (陳思宇) said, adding that the practice punished hoteliers in Taipei.
It was unreasonable for the bureau to exclude the three cities because of their hotel occupancy rates, said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清), who represents Taoyuan.
The program punishes quality hoteliers in the cities for diligently managing their businesses, Cheng said.
Hotel occupancy rates in Taoyuan actually declined from 55.78 percent in 2014 and 51 percent in 2015 to 48.21 percent last year, Cheng Pao-ching said, adding that it fell to 48.06 percent in June.
Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport collects NT$10 billion in airport service fees per year, NT$5 billion of which goes into the Tourism Development Fund, but Taoyuan was unfairly excluded from the program, he said.
The committee passed a resolution that he proposed to immediately include the three cities in the program.
Hoteliers and tourists would welcome the subsidies, but this should not be the bureau’s long-term strategy, DPP Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) said.
“The subsidy would only help move tourists from one region to another, but would not increase the number of domestic travelers,” Lee said.
The bureau should focus on developing regional tourism brands and package tours if it is to administer the program more effectively, he said.
To encourage domestic tourists to spend more, the government should consider allowing people to deduct domestic travel expenses from their income tax, Lee said, adding that the amount of the deductible could be NT$5,000 to NT$6,000.
The subsidy program is designed to help tour operators boost their business in off-peak times, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-jong (祁文中) said, adding that officials from the bureau and the Ministry of Transportation and Communication have met on several occasions to consider the program’s details.
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