The government is allocating more than NT$13 billion (US$439.4 million) to bail out tourism companies that continue to struggle despite strong promotional measures for domestic tours, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
Life Travel and Tourist Service Co, after operating for more than 30 years, on Wednesday said that it had to lay off 100 employees after its business declined by 90 percent in May because of the restrictions on international travel, a key revenue driver.
Asked if the travel agency’s downward trend was a bellwether for the travel industry in the months to come, Lin told reporters that the Executive Yuan is compiling a budget plan for a third relief fund package, which would be used to bail out businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan is scheduled to be reviewed by the Legislative Yuan during its extraordinary session, Lin said, adding that the government is hoping that it would be passed before the end of this month.
The funds to be allocated to travel agencies, hotels, tour service operators and businesses at international airports would partially cover the salaries of their employees from this month to September, Lin said.
“The first and second relief fund packages have proven effective in preventing many businesses from going bankrupt or laying off workers,” Lin said.
“However, as the nation still restricts the entry of international tourists and limits local residents from traveling overseas to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, we hope that the third relief package can subsidize the payment of salaries to workers in businesses affected by the pandemic,” he said.
Workers are an important asset in the tourism industry, he added.
Several travel agencies have succeeded in changing their business models from international tourism services to organizing tours for domestic travelers, but other agencies are still having trouble sustaining themselves, making the third relief fund package necessary, Lin said.
Businesses that received relief funds through the previous two bailout packages have been asked not to place employees on furlough and cut salaries by more than 20 percent, Lin said.
“We understand the problems facing several large travel agencies and would ask them to observe relevant regulations,” Lin added.
Asked how he plans to use the government-issued Triple Stimulus Vouchers to spur consumer spending, Lin said that the smartest way to use these vouchers is to spend them on the second phase “disease prevention tours,” adding that the vouchers can save about NT$10,000 in travel expenses.
An apartment building in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) collapsed last night after a nearby construction project earlier in the day allegedly caused it to tilt. Shortly after work began at 9am on an ongoing excavation of a construction site on Liuzhang Street (六張街), two neighboring apartment buildings tilted and cracked, leading to exterior tiles peeling off, city officials said. The fire department then dispatched personnel to help evacuate 22 residents from nine households. After the incident, the city government first filled the building at No. 190, which appeared to be more badly affected, with water to stabilize the
Taiwan plans to cull as many as 120,000 invasive green iguanas this year to curb the species’ impact on local farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture said. Chiu Kuo-hao (邱國皓), a section chief in the ministry’s Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, on Sunday said that green iguanas have been recorded across southern Taiwan and as far north as Taichung. Although there is no reliable data on the species’ total population in the country, it has been estimated to be about 200,000, he said. Chiu said about 70,000 iguanas were culled last year, including about 45,000 in Pingtung County, 12,000 in Tainan, 9,900 in
DEEPER REVIEW: After receiving 19 hospital reports of suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health applied for an epidemiological investigation A buffet restaurant in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) is to be fined NT$3 million (US$91,233) after it remained opened despite an order to suspend operations following reports that 32 people had been treated for suspected food poisoning, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. The health department said it on Tuesday received reports from hospitals of people who had suspected food poisoning symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea, after they ate at an INPARADISE (饗饗) branch in Breeze Xinyi on Sunday and Monday. As more than six people who ate at the restaurant sought medical treatment, the department ordered the
Taiwan’s population last year shrank further and births continued to decline to a yearly low, the Ministry of the Interior announced today. The ministry published the 2024 population demographics statistics, highlighting record lows in births and bringing attention to Taiwan’s aging population. The nation’s population last year stood at 23,400,220, a decrease of 20,222 individuals compared to 2023. Last year, there were 134,856 births, representing a crude birth rate of 5.76 per 1,000 people, a slight decline from 2023’s 135,571 births and 5.81 crude birth rate. This decrease of 715 births resulted in a new record low per the ministry’s data. Since 2016, which saw
RSS