Some Taiwan-based online travel agencies are not pleased with a new hotel booking Web site that the Tourism Bureau has set up.
The platform was created after domestic hotels complained that foreign booking sites take large amounts of commission. About 1,500 businesses have applied to be listed on the site since it was launched.
However, an anonymous source from the local tourism industry said yesterday that local online travel agencies are already suffering due to “unfair competition” from foreign booking platforms, and now the bureau has created “yet another booking platform to compete with businesses.”
Photo courtesy of the Tourism bureau via CNA
Another anonymous source questioned whether the bureau would be able to maintain the service. Operational, maintenance and marketing expenses would cost the bureau “at least” NT$10 million (US$328,095) per year, the source added.
“Besides, who would handle consumer disputes?” the source said.
If the bureau cannot address these issues, the platform would just become a “policy statement,” the sources added.
Local online travel agencies have been “forgotten” by Taiwan’s tourism industry, said Chang Feng-wen (張奉文), chairman of the Taipei-based TravelKing Internet Agency Co.
Domestic laws and regulations on platforms based overseas are “ambiguous,” he said, adding that “even the Tourism Bureau does not recognize booking services as being within its jurisdiction.”
The bureau allows foreign platforms to charge hotel owners “high amounts of commission of more than 20 percent the room rate.” When hotel revenues drop, the operators ask the government for subsidies, he said, calling it a “vicious cycle.”
The bureau should take responsibility and allow the online travel agencies market to “return to fair competition,” Chang said.
In response, the bureau said the current version of the Company Act (公司法) does not require foreign companies to set up branches in Taiwan.
It said it has previously asked foreign companies to register in the nation, and for them to follow domestic regulations, but whether they comply is up to them.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
PLANNED: The suspect visited the crime scene before the killings, seeking information on how to access the roof, and had extensively researched a 2014 stabbing incident The suspect in a stabbing attack that killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei on Friday had planned the assault and set fires at other locations earlier in the day, law enforcement officials said yesterday. National Police Agency (NPA) Director-General Chang Jung-hsin (張榮興) said the suspect, a 27-year-old man named Chang Wen (張文), began the attacks at 3:40pm, first setting off smoke bombs on a road, damaging cars and motorbikes. Earlier, Chang Wen set fire to a rental room where he was staying on Gongyuan Road in Zhongzheng District (中正), Chang Jung-hsin said. The suspect later threw smoke grenades near two exits
RSS