The Tourism Bureau yesterday said it is expanding the subsidy program for international carriers offering charter flights to Hualien and Taitung.
The program, which was launched on Jan. 9, is designed to boost international tourism to Hualien and Taitung, as the highway transport system to the east coast is often disrupted by natural disasters and train tickets are hard to come by.
The subsidy currently only covers flight carriers that offer at least two round-trip charter flights to Hualien or Taitung airport per week for a minimum of four months, the bureau said.
Although the bureau has allocated NT$50 million (US$1.62 million) for the program, only NT$2 million has been used, it said.
A number of carriers and travel agencies in Hualien and Taitung have said that the program has failed to generate more interest because of the high standards set by the bureau to qualify for the subsidy, bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said.
After discussing it with officials at the Executive Yuan’s Eastern Taiwan Joint Services Center, the bureau decided to adjust the standards set for the subsidy program, Chou said.
Instead of giving subsidies only to carriers offering charter flights on a weekly basis, starting on Jan. 9, the program would also subsidize airlines offering non-weekly charter flight services with an occupancy rate of at least 50 percent, the bureau said.
In addition, subsidies for airlines offering charter flights from Japan would be raised from NT$300,000 to NT$350,000, while those arriving from Hong Kong, Macau, the Philippines and China would be raised from NT$150,000 to NT$250,000, it said.
Subsidies for charter flights from South Korea and other Southeast Asian nations would be raised from NT$250,000 to NT$300,000.
For flights whose occupancy rates exceed 50 percent, passengers on the flights would each be given a travel subsidy of NT$600, the bureau said.
To encourage foreign travelers to spend the Lunar New Year holiday on the east coast and to visit the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Pingtung next year, charter flights arriving in Taiwan before Feb. 28 would all be subsidized even with an occupancy rate of only 30 to 50 percent.
However, the subsidy would only be 40 percent of the full amount, it said.
The budget for the program next year would be unchanged at NT$50 million and is to expire on Dec. 31.
The new standards set for the subsidy program would give tour operators more flexibility in arranging their itineraries, the bureau said, adding that it is in talks about potential collaborations with tour operators in Japan and South Korea.
As the theme for the next year is “Small Town Tourism,” the charter flight subsidy program would facilitate visits from international tourists to some of the charismatic small towns in the east coast, the bureau said.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that China has “no right to represent Taiwan,” but stressed that the nation was willing to work with Beijing on issues of mutual interest. “The Republic of China has already put down roots in Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu,” Lai said in his first Double Ten National Day address outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. “And the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to each other.” “The People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan,” he said at the event marking the 113th National Day of
RSS