About 300 hundred customers of a Taiwanese travel agency -- a business that is suspected of having gone bankrupt -- returned to Taipei yesterday, some of them prematurely, though no figures were available for the number of travelers whose holidays were abruptly cut-off.
The 27 tourists who were temporarily stranded in the north-eastern city of Shenyang on Tuesday, and who first drew attention to the agency's plight, were yesterday continuing their tour.
They and some 200 others belonging to 17 tour groups organized by the company are expected to return to Taiwan by Sunday, according to the Ministry of Tranpsortation and Communications' Tourism Bureau.
PHOTO: TONY YAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The 300 tourists, all customers of Ying Lun Travel Co (英倫行旅行社), which is now embroiled in financial disputes with Chinese travel agencies with which it had collaborated in the provision of tours to China, landed in Taipei late last night. They had been part of 14 separate tour groups dispatched by the company to locations throughout China.
According to the bureau's press release, 31 Ying Lun tour groups comprising 536 Taiwanese tourists have been affected. As of press time last night, neither the Tourism Bureau nor the Travel Quality Assurance Association (TQAA) had been able to contact the travel agency.
The bureau emphasized that tourists who had been forced to make additional payments as a result of the incident will be entitled to apply for reimbursement from the TQAA or the company's insurers through TQAA channels.
"We'll take all of the tourists' applications for reparations starting tomorrow. If we can't cover the amount, we will seek the help of Ying Lun's insurance company" Chang said.
Ying Lun is covered by an NT$40 million mandatory insurance policy provided by the Chung Kuo Insurance Co (中國產物保險公司). Such coverage is required under Tourism Bureau regulations.
Among the 300 tourists returning to Taiwan yesterday, a male surnamed Chen told broadcast media that he had had to pay NT$9,900 for the ticket for his flight home.
Chang Chi-yuan (
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