Taiwanese tourists in Brussels were reported safe after the coordinated terror attacks in the Belgian capital killed at least 34 people and injured more than 200 on Tuesday.
Statistics from the Tourism Bureau showed that there were 97 Taiwanese tourists in Brussels as of yesterday, traveling with three different Taiwanese travel agencies.
Among them, 31 tourists were with Galilee Tours, the bureau said. Southeast Travel Service and Cola Tour had 45 and 21 tourists respectively.
Photo: CNA
The bureau said that it has told travel agencies organizing tours to Europe to be vigilant about the safety of their customers, adding that tour guides should be told to stay clear of areas under attack.
Tour guides should contact the Taipei Representative Office in Brussels if they need emergency assistance, the bureau added.
As some tourists might decide to cancel their trips to Europe because of the attacks, the bureau said that travel agencies should refund customers after deducting non-refundable fees, as well as the booking fee, which can be no more than 5 percent of the cost of the tour.
People can seek arbitration from the Tourism Bureau and Travel Quality Assurance Association if there are disputes over the tour cancellations, it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has yet to raise its travel alert for Belgium, which remains “yellow.”
The yellow level means that tourists should pay attention to their safety and evaluate whether the trip is necessary.
The ministry said its office in the EU and Belgium had not received reports of casualties involving Taiwanese expatriates.
The ministry said that the Belgian government has issued its highest warning level over security — level 4 — adding that the metro system has been closed following the attacks.
Taiwanese expatriates should avoid public places like shopping centers, convention centers, airports and train stations at this time, the ministry said.
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
RSS