As Palau’s tourism industry continues to suffer under Beijing’s reported tourist group ban, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said it is in talks with major Taiwanese airlines and travel agencies to explore ways to support tourism in Palau and other Pacific island nations.
In the coming months, the ministry expects to announce collaborations with Taiwanese tour companies to assess tourism profiles for Taiwan’s six diplomatic allies in the region: Palau, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs Director-General Ger Bau-shuan (葛葆萱) said.
“We want to encourage Taiwanese nationals to visit our allies,” Ger said. “But it will take a lot of planning and working with small and medium-sized enterprises in those nations to appeal to tourists.”
The ministry is likely to prioritize tours to Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands, the most populous of the six nations.
“It is a large region. No one will want to go on a 20-day trip, so we would like to see how we can visit as many countries as possible in 10 days or so,” Ger said.
Officials hope that having Taiwanese companies partner with tourism industries abroad will ease China’s influence on the small Pacific island economies.
Since Beijing reportedly imposed a tourist group ban against Palau, Palau Pacific Airways — the nation’s sole local airline — has been forced to suspend operations due to financial losses.
Since last month, China Airlines has been operating flights to Palau twice a week to support Palauan President Tommy Remengesau’s efforts to diversify tourism in the nation.
However, the increased number of flights is only being offered during the peak travel season, Ger said.
China is Palau’s largest tourism market. Nearly half of Palau’s foreign visitors each year are Chinese — nearly three times the number of Taiwanese visitors.
RESOLUTIONS DEBATE: Taiwan’s allies said that UN and WHA resolutions cited by China and other nations ‘do not determine Taiwan’s participation in WHO activities’ A proposal to invite Taiwan to this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA) was rejected on Monday, resulting in Taipei’s absence from the annual meeting for a ninth consecutive year, although partners spoke up for Taiwan’s participation at the first day of the meeting. The first agenda item after the opening was a “two-on-two debate” on a proposal to invite Taiwan to participate at the WHA as an observer. Similar to previous years, two countries made statements in favor of the proposal, while two others expressed their opposition. Philippine Secretary of Health Teodoro Herbosa, president of the 78th WHA, accepted the WHA General Committee’s
Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr arrived in Taiwan last night to kick off his first visit to the country since beginning his second term earlier this year. After arriving at Taoyuan International Airport at around 6:30 pm, Whipps and his delegation were welcomed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Speaking to gathered media, the Palauan leader said he was excited and honored to be back in Taiwan on his first state visit to Taiwan since he was sworn in this January. Among those traveling with Whipps is Minister of State Gustav N. Aitaro, Public Infrastructure
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) on Friday laid out the Cabinet’s updated policy agenda and recapped the government’s achievements ahead of the one-year anniversary of President William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration. Cho said the government had made progress across a range of areas, including rebuilding Hualien, cracking down on fraud, improving pedestrian safety and promoting economic growth. “I hope the public will not have the impression that the Cabinet only asked the legislature to reconsider a bunch of legal amendments,” Cho said, calling the moves “necessary” to protect constitutional governance and the public’s interest. The Cabinet would work toward achieving its “1+7” plan, he said. The
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) hosted a dinner in Taipei last night with key Taiwanese suppliers to celebrate the successful mass production of the company’s new Blackwell AI systems. Speaking to the media earlier yesterday, Huang thanked Nvidia’s Taiwanese partners for their contributions to the company’s ecosystem, while also sharing his plans to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀). In response to rumors that Nvidia will launch a downgraded Hopper H20 chip for China in July, Huang dismissed the reports, saying, “That is not true.” He clarified that there
RSS