The Tourism Bureau yesterday announced that the suspension of outbound and inbound tours, imposed on March 19, would be extended until the end of next month, which should have come as no surprise.
However, the announcement came less than two days after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Tokyo was set to hold talks with Taiwan and 11 other nations on easing travel restrictions to allow the entry of businesspeople, which forced Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on Thursday to try to dampen enthusiasm about the idea of Taiwanese travelers being able to visit Japan anytime soon.
While the bureau’s decision to extend the ban, which was due to expire at the end of this month, until Aug. 31 is understandable, it was still a disservice to the public and the travel industry.
It is high time that the government, the travel industry and the public admit that the carefree days of traveling abroad for holidays, either on guided tours or as individuals, were a luxury that the nation cannot afford — at least not for the foreseeable future.
That is the crux of the problem created by the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, amounting to a pandemic that the world has yet to come to grips with: the idea that there is a foreseeable future.
No one, at this point, can say when the world would “return to normal” or “a new normal,” whatever that might be, for travel or anything else.
Taiwan is a small, densely populated nation, and it is understandable that those who can afford to travel overseas have embraced the opportunities that arose over the past two decades: the advent of budget airlines, longer paid leaves and cheaper group tours.
The idea of jetting off to New Zealand, for example, for a five-day, four-night tour would have seemed impossible before the turn of the century, given the travel time, and the cost of fares and accommodations, but it has since become a popular package offered by local travel agencies, along with week-long trips to European destinations or weekend trips to Japan and South Korea.
The past few years have seen dramatic growth in the outbound tourism sector, which has been as badly hurt by COVID-19 travel restrictions as the inbound sector.
However, Taiwan has been exceedingly fortunate as the COVID-19 crisis grew from an outbreak in China into a pandemic, thanks to the aggressive actions taken by the government and the Central Epidemic Command Center, so that despite some small hiccups, the number of cases stands, as of yesterday, at 458, including 367 imported cases, seven deaths and no locally transmitted case since April 12.
It is no wonder that Japan or other nations would welcome the return of business travelers and tourists from Taiwan, especially nations whose economies are heavily reliant on tourism.
However, those hard-won numbers should not be taken for granted. While Taiwanese and the nation’s foreign residents have shown more common sense than those in too many other nations in adapting to wearing masks and following social distancing guidelines, it is obvious from reports from popular holiday spots in southern Europe and the US over the past few weeks that people on vacation are often too relaxed to take precautions.
The problem is that while travelers on airplanes can wear masks, gloves and even hazmat suits, and carry large containers of hand sanitizer and wet-wipes, they cannot go about encased in a bubble.
Taiwan’s healthcare system should not be asked to deal with new waves of imported cases, just to pacify individuals or companies clamoring for a return to normal.
It is time to admit that travel restrictions are likely to be needed until the end of the year, if not longer. The sooner this “new reality” is acknowledged and planned for, the better for everyone.
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under