Travel agents yesterday urged the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) to help resolve their disputes with tourists as more people are canceling their travel plans due to the growing number of COVID-19 infections in other countries.
While China has the highest number of COVID-19 infections, the increasing number of cases in Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand has prompted the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) to raise its travel advisory level for those nations.
It raised the travel notice for South Korea to level 3 “warning” — avoid all nonessential travel — on Monday following a spike in confirmed cases there, while the travel advisory for Singapore and Japan is at level 2 “alert” — practice enhanced precautions.
Photo: David Chang / EPA-EFE
The advisory for Thailand is at level 1 “watch,” which urges travelers to take normal precautions.
South East Travel Service Co, one of the nation’s largest travel agencies, said that it stopped organizing package tours to South Korea after the warning was raised on Monday, adding that 70 to 80 percent of its customers who were planning to travel there next month have canceled their tours.
About 60 percent of travelers who were supposed to travel to Japan have also canceled, it said.
Many people who planned to travel to Japan are hesitant about whether they should cancel the tours, as they are concerned that the CECC might raise the alert level, it added.
The cherry blossom season is to begin in Japan in the second half of next month and many Taiwanese would like to take advantage of the long Tomb-Sweeping Holiday weekend in the beginning of April to visit Japan, it added.
Chung Hsing Travel Service Co chairman Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) said that the ministry should bring travel agencies and airlines together to help resolve the disputes caused by tour cancelations.
The nation has about 15 million outbound travelers annually, and about 70 percent of them travel to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and South Korea, he said.
The outbreak could cost the travel industry more than NT$100 billion (US$3.29 billion) in lost revenue in the first half of this year, he said.
Dispute charges caused by tour cancelations prior to departure could exceed NT$10 billion, Lee said, adding that the crux of the problem lies in refunds for cancelations.
“Many consumers think that they would lose 5 percent of the tour fees if the tour is for a level 2 destination and they would get a full refund if it is a level 3 destination. What they do not realize if that if the airlines, shipping firms and hotels do not offer refunds, and charge processing fees, travel agents have to deduct these expenses from the money paid by the consumers. Facing consumers directly, travel agents would inevitably bear the brunt of the blame,” he said.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration said it cannot force airlines to relax their rules on canceling or changing tickets, it can only urge them to consider the idea, Lee said.
While foreign airlines responded positively, Taiwanese airlines still processed ticket charges, he said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said that the ministry does not want travel agencies to bear the financial losses and consumers’ complaints alone and it has asked consumer protection officers nationwide to help resolve such disputes.
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