The Taipei Association of Travel Agents yesterday said it strongly opposed a government policy to punish travel agents for independent Chinese tourists who overstay their permits.
After the Mainland Affairs Council earlier this week unveiled the nation’s policy on free and independent travelers (FIT) from China, the National Immigration Agency said travel agents would be responsible for helping find Chinese FITs who failed to leave the nation within 15 days of their arrival, the maximum period of stay for independent Chinese tourists under the plan.
Travel agents who failed to do that could be barred from handling travel permit applications for Chinese tourists, the agency said.
Photo courtesy of the National Immigration Agency
Association board director Lee Chien-hong (李謙宏) said the policy was a unilateral decision by the government, adding that travel agents were never consulted on that and other measures before the decision was made, which he said was “unacceptable.”
“Because of the special relations between Taiwan and China, travel agents simply assist the government by applying for the travel permit on behalf of Chinese tourists,” he said. “Now we must also bear the risk of having our businesses suspended. We cannot accept this.”
Lee said that while the agency was ultimately responsible for issuing travel permits to Chinese, none of its officials would be held accountable if Chinese overstayed their visit.
“The people who issue travel permits should be responsible, not the travel agents,” he said. “If travel agents are to be punished for missing Chinese FITs, then hotels, restaurants and even department stores should be punished as well.”
Lee said that unlike group tours, it was not possible for travel agents to control the movement of FITs.
As such, the government should reconsider the policy by consulting with travel agents, Lee said, adding that the association’s members would engage in further discussions if their appeals were denied.
In response, Tourism Bureau Director General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said the agency had initially proposed that travel agents be fined NT$100,000 for every missing Chinese FIT.
“We thought the proposal was unreasonable, because travel agents only help book tickets and hotels on behalf of their client,” Lai said.
The agency subsequently amended the proposal so that travel agents would first be issued a -notice for a missing Chinese FIT, adding that the worst-case scenario would be that they would be barred from handling travel permit applications for a month.
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