In a bid to encourage the public to travel domestically during the week, civil servants will be issued "civil travel cards" in a bid to boost the local tourism industry.
The Cabinet plans to distribute the cards to the nation's 600,000 civil servants within six months and inaugurate the scheme on Jan. 1.
Cardholders would be entitled to a maximum annual subsidy of NT$16,000 should they travel outside of where they live and spend at least one night there.
The Executive Yuan is set to approve the draft measure at the weekly Cabinet affairs meeting today.
According to Cabinet Spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (莊碩漢), the Cabinet hopes that the measure will help improve the sluggish local tourism industry, which he says is in desperate need of a lift.
"The local tourism and food industries desperately need a boost, because they've been experiencing unprecedented recession over the past few years," Chuang said.
"Because of the economic recession, most people are not only more careful about spending their money but also more interested in taking overseas trips, because they're usually cheaper than domestic ones," he said.
Chuang said there are two reasons behind the scheme.
"It encourages the public to travel on weekdays, bringing the residency cost down during weekends," Chuang said.
"As the cost comes down, there will be more tourists visiting tourism areas."
Although the measure would only apply to the nation's civil servants, Chuang said that it is the government's hope to see everyone eventually benefit.
"Our ultimate goal is to see every citizen use the card to take domestic trips during the week and help the local tourism industry," Chuang said.
Statistics show that the number of tourists visiting tourism areas saw an 8.34 percent decrease following the devastating 921 earthquake.
After the quake, typhoons, floods and the economic recession continued to haunt the nation's tourism industry in 2000 and last year.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Taiwan between January and December last year saw a 22.88 percent decrease than that of 2000.
Since June 1 last year, civil servants have been entitled to a maximum annual subsidy of NT$16,000 if they can prove that they travel, dine or shop during their vacations.
Some argue that the scheme, is flawed, however, because some civil servants have still been able to receive the subsidies even if they haven't gone on any trips.
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