A Consumers’ Foundation survey released on Friday found that 40 percent of hot spring resort owners operated without legal permits, while another seven resorts violated regulations regarding down payments.
According to the Hot Spring Act (溫泉法), natural hot springs are national resources, Consumers’ Foundation chairman Yu Kai-hsiung (游開雄) said.
As many people have visited hot springs in the past few weeks amid falling temperatures, the foundation randomly surveyed 12 hot spring resorts nationwide, Yu said.
The foundation said that the worst offender was the well-known Hotel Royal in Taitung County’s Jhiben Township (知本), as its permit had expired five years ago and it might be officially ineligible for consideration as a hot springs resort, the foundation said.
Royal Spa Hot Springs Resort in Taichung’s Heping District (和平), Hongye Resort in Hualien County’s Ruisuei Township (瑞穗), Shian Ting Hot Spring Hostel in Nantou County’s Puli Township (埔里) and Melonshan Spa World (美崙山) in Kaohsiung’s Liouguei District (六龜) were liable for fines between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000 for operating without permits, it added.
Only three out of 12 complied with regulations regarding accepting and refunding down payments, the foundation said.
Chengping Hot Spring Resort in Jhiben, as well as the Shian Ting and Melonshan resorts, asked for down payments in excess of the legal maximum of 30 percent, the foundation said.
At the Pause Landis Resort in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) and the No. 9 Hotel in Yilan County’s Jiaosi Township (礁溪), down payments are actually advance payments, as they equal the room price, the foundation said.
Requiring down payments is legal, but half the amount should be returned if a booking is canceled on the day before arrival and cancelations two weeks in advance are eligible for full refunds, the foundation said.
Muchun Hot Spring Resort in Tainan’s Baihe Township (白河) and the Butterfly Valley Resort in Hualien deduct 5 percent and 30 percent respectively from deposits, Yu said, adding that neither clearly stated when guests need to cancel reservations to qualify for full refunds.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications must step up efforts to supervise hot springs, Yu said, adding that it should begin by revoking permits.
Hot Spring Tourism Association Taiwan president Lee Chi-tien (李吉田) said that the foundation’s sample size was too small to claim that “40 percent” of national hot spring owners operated illegally.
Ministry Travel and Lodging Division chief Chen Chiung-hua (陳瓊華) said resorts are required by the Consumer Protection Act (消費者保護法) to disclose the amount of a down payment, how to obtain refunds and what fees might be deducted.
Resorts that do not comply could be fined between NT$30,000 and NT$300,000, she said, adding that the ministry’s Tourism Bureau would look into all resorts listed by the foundation.
Meanwhile, the owners of Hongye Resort said that it did not qualify for a permit, as the owner is not fully Aboriginal and the lands on which it is built are considered Aboriginal reserved land.
Having been established during the Japanese colonial era, the resort is more than a century old and a local landmark, said the owner, who is surnamed Lu (盧).
The resort is near the Ruisuei Hot Springs area, but administratively belongs to Wanjung Township (萬榮), which makes it difficult to obtain the necessary approvals and water rights, Lu said.
The Hualien County Government said that the location on Aboriginal reserved land is the main obstacle to resolving the issue and it would ask the county’s Indigenous Peoples Department and the Wanjung Township Office to assist the resort in obtaining legal papers for its land and water rights.
Only then could it help the resort obtain a hot spring permit, the county government said.
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
RSS