The Tourism Bureau on Monday brought back a program to offer charter-flight subsidies to travel agencies that bring international tourists to Hualien and Taitung counties.
The program offers incentives to travel operators that charter flights carrying 50 or more travelers from outside Taiwan and land in Hualien or Taitung counties.
Flights from Japan are to attract a NT$385,000 subsidy, while those from South Korea and Southeast Asian countries can receive NT$335,000, the bureau said.
Photo: Screen grab by Chen Hsien-yi, Taipei Times
Charter flights from the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Macau and other nations would each be subsidized NT$285,000, it said.
Travel agencies are to receive additional subsidies if a charter flight has more than 50 percent of the aircraft’s seats filled, the bureau said.
However, as the bureau aims to bolster the number of visitors participating in festivities around the Lunar New Year and Taiwan Lantern Festival periods, 40 percent additional subsidies are being offered if flights are 30 percent full from Sunday to Feb.28, and to take effect again Jan.1 to March 31 next year and Jan.1 to March 31 in 2025, the guidelines say.
Travel agencies can receive an additional 10 percent of its qualifying subsidy if the travelers spend at least one night in a hotel in Hualien or Taitung, the bureau said.
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