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.
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
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