A new program offering discounts and unlimited admission to museums is to start on Wednesday next week, the National Palace Museum (NPM) said.
The “Taiwan Museum Pass” — which is available for purchase online (museumpass.welcometw.com) and at 7-Eleven convenience stores and participating museums — grants holders unlimited admission to 18 museums and facilities in a yearly pass or in a three-month pass.
It can also be used for a 50 percent discount at 10 cooperating museums and a 65 percent discount at recreational parks run by the Forestry Bureau, the museum said.
The yearly pass costs NT$650 for adults and NT$450 for minors, while the three-month pass costs NT$400 for adults and NT$300 for minors, it said, adding that the program is only available for citizens, although there are plans to offer an “international version.”
The seasonal pass is suitable for families who do not normally visit museums and want to try them at a discount, museum director Lin Chung-hsi (林崇熙) said.
People “only need to visit three of the more popular museums for the pass to pay for itself, and the more they visit after that, the greater the discount,” he said.
The pass is intended to motivate people to visit museums, which are an “enriching experience that makes people more knowledgeable,” he added.
Several venues near museums are also participating with package discounts to help promote the passes, including Hinoki Village (檜意森活村) and Alishan (阿里山) in Chiayi County, which are near NPM’s southern branch, Lin said.
The National Museum of Marine Science and Technology would offer overnight stays at the museum for pass holders, he said.
The NPM also plans to give pass holders exclusive entry to activities at Ju Ming Museum, the Grand Hotel Taipei and Yehliu Geopark, he added.
In addition to NPM’s main and southern branches, the following museums are to offer unlimited admission in the program: the Chimei Museum in Tainan; the National Museum of Marine Science and Technology in Keelong; the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung, as well as the 921 Earthquake Museum of Taiwan, the Chelungpu Fault Preservation Park and the Fonghuanggu Bird and Ecology Park; the National Museum of Prehistory in Taitung and its Tainan branch, as well as the Beinan Prehistoric Site; the National Museum of Taiwan History in Tainan; the National Science and Technology Museum in Kaohsiung; the National Taiwan Museum in Taipei; and the National Taiwan Science Education Center in Taipei.
The following museums offer discounts in the program: Alien Art Centre, the Chung Tai World Museum, the Ju Ming Museum, the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, the Lanyang Museum, the Miniatures Museum of Taiwan, the National Center for Traditional Arts, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and the Tainan Art Museum.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao
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