People and groups from tourism-related sectors in Taiwan and the Philippines are calling on the government to extend its visa-free entry program for Filipinos, which ends on July 31.
Representative to the Philippines Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) told Taiwanese business leaders at a meeting a few days ago in the Philippines that his office has been inundated with e-mails from Filipinos urging Taiwan to extend the program.
EVA Air, China Airlines and Philippine Airlines are among industry players hoping for the program to be extended, Hsu said.
The Philippine Travel Agencies Association and the Philippine Tour Operators Association also reportedly called on the Taiwan Representative Office to convey the widespread support for the program.
A 14-day visa-free entry program for Filipinos was implemented in November 2017 in line with the government’s New Southbound Policy and was extended for one year after the trial period ended on July 31 last year.
Earlier this month, Philippine Dental Association president Arleen Reyes thanked Taiwan for the privilege of visa-free entry during a courtesy call to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Manila.
The convenience of visa-free entry has encouraged many Filipinos to visit Taiwan, Reyes said, adding that the policy should be continued.
During the first two months of this year, 72,803 Philippine tourists visited Taiwan, a 31.37 percent increase from the same period last year, Tourism Bureau data showed.
Most Filipinos visiting Taiwan are young and not that well-off, so they usually plan their trips three to four months in advance to save on air fares, said a Taiwanese airline officer in Manila who requested anonymity.
He predicted a decline in ticket sales in coming months if the program’s future remains uncertain. Potential visitors might turn to other Southeast Asian countries or even Australia instead of Taiwan, he said.
Jay Lee (李韋憲), a Taiwanese who teaches Chinese in Manila, said that many of his students had visited Taiwan over the past two years, adding: “The visa-free treatment really made a difference.”
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
RSS