Travel agents are barred from organizing tours to Hong Kong and Macau until April 30, given the COVID-19 outbreak in the two territories and because airlines have reduced flights to both, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
The ban also applies to tours to a third country if it involves transiting in either territory, the bureau said.
The bureau on Feb. 6 announced that all tours to Hong Kong and Macau would be banned until this Saturday, except for tour groups transiting in the territories.
The Central Epidemic Command Center on Monday last week raised Hong Kong and Macau in the nation’s travel advisory system from a Level 2 alert to a Level 3, the highest level, after Hong Kong declared community outbreaks and cluster infections of COVID-19.
Following that announcement, the bureau extended the ban on group tours to the two territories until March 31 and included those transiting through the territories.
Given the continuing outbreak, if travelers want to cancel planned trips, the terms of the Fixed Contracts for Overseas Tours state that either the travel agent or travelers might cancel tours to Level-3 areas without being subject to liability for compensation, as the contract cannot be completely fulfilled due to force majeure, or causes not attributable to either party, the bureau said yesterday.
“Travel agents who had arranged for travelers to transit through Hong Kong or Macau before reaching their final destinations could switch to other transit airports after securing the consent of travelers. If the travelers do not agree to the agreement, they could still be refunded under the terms of the Fixed Contracts for Overseas Tours,” the bureau said.
More than 70 percent of flights across the Taiwan Strait and on the Taiwan-Hong Kong routes and Taiwan-Macau routes were canceled between Monday last week and Sunday, the Civil Aeronautics Administration said.
Passenger traffic during that period dropped by more than 80 percent from the weekly average for December last year due to flight cancelations, the agency said.
Additional reporting by staff writer and CNA
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