Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors lashed out at the Taipei City Government yesterday for giving wrong and outdated information on the English version of its travel guide Web site, warning that such incorrect information would scare foreign visitors away.
“Information such as ‘14-day-visa-exempt entry privileges are afforded to citizens of 31 countries’ and outdated taxi fares were all incorrect. It’s worse than giving no information at all,” DPP Taipei City Councilor Lee Chien-chang (李建昌) said yesterday at the Taipei City Council.
The site, www.taipeitravel.net, is designed and managed by Taipei City’s Department of Information and Tourism to promote Taipei’s attractions and provide tourists with travel tips as well as information about the city in Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean.
Lee and DPP Taipei City councilors Hsu Shu-hua (�?�) and Huang Hsiang-chun (黃向群) condemned the department for failing to update the site’s English version.
The taxi fares posted on the English page, for example, didn’t reflect the rate changes made in November, they said.
On the “Travel Tips” section, the Web site’s description of the city’s weather was also flawed: “Taipei has a subtropical climate, with an average temperature of 220C (720F).”
“Foreign visitors must be amazed by the description of Taipei’s average temperature and think that this city is a world wonder by having such a high temperature,” Hsu said.
The councilors blamed the poorly managed Web site on the administration of Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), saying officials were focusing their efforts on welcoming Chinese tourists by organizing forums for tour guides and preparing simplified-Chinese versions of travel guides or pamphlets.
Hau finished a trip to China last night, where he discussed the possibility of bringing pandas to the Taipei City Zoo.
“The city government is clearly treating Chinese tourists as a treasure and other foreign visitors like cheap straws,” Huang said.
In response, the department acknowledged that it had failed to update its English Web site since last year because of a shortage of English translators.
The department updated the English Web site later yesterday.
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