The Tourism Bureau yesterday released the details of its fall and winter domestic travel subsidy program, which is expected to generate more than NT$25.6 billion (US$821 million) for the tourism industry.
The announcement came one day after Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the Executive Yuan would budget NT$3.6 billion for the program in response to China’s suspension of a program that allowed individual tourists from 47 cities to travel to Taiwan, which took effect yesterday.
The move was a tactic to interfere in the presidential election in January next year, Lin said.
Tourism operators estimated that it could result in a loss of 500,000 to 700,000 tourists from China in the next six months.
The bureau said its winter and spring travel subsidy programs last year boosted the hotel occupancy rate and proved effective in encouraging more people to travel in Taiwan.
The bureau said that this year it would subsidize tour groups as well as individuals.
For tour groups visiting any one of the towns recommended by the bureau, each member would receive up to NT$500 per day.
The subsidy for each group, which must consist of at least 10 people, would be capped at NT$30,000. Each travel agency can have no more than 20 tour groups subsidized by the government.
However, if a tour group books star-rated hotels, visits farms or factories that are open to tourists, or has travelers who are 60 or older, the subsidy for each group would be capped at NT$50,000, provided that there are more than 15 people in the group.
For tour groups visiting the nation’s outlying islands or traveling for more than two days, each person would be given NT$1,000 per day. The total subsidy for each tour group would be capped at NT$70,000.
Individuals traveling without a tour group would receive NT$1,000 per hotel room, provided they are traveling between Sunday and Friday. Each person would be able use the benefit one time.
However, if they are traveling to the outlying islands, they can use the benefit two times on any day of the week.
Children under 12 would be able to visit an amusement park once free of charge, as the bureau would offer a subsidy of NT$350, with the amusement park operator making up the difference.
The program would spend NT$50 million to sponsor promotional events organized by travel associations and amusement parks, but the fund for each event would be capped at NT$1 million.
The program is to run from Sept. 1 through Dec. 31, the bureau said.
The program is estimated to motivate about 7.68 million people to travel in the nation, which would generate NT$25.6 billion in tourism benefits, it said.
Of the NT$3.6 billion to fund the program, NT$1.8 billion would come from the Tourism Development Fund and the rest would be provided by the Executive Yuan, the bureau said.
It is the largest travel subsidy the Tourism Bureau has ever offered.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
RSS