The Taipei Department of Information and Tourism yesterday announced a new tourism program that offers independent travelers and members of tourist groups a NT$1,000 (US$34.68) subsidy per person for an overnight stay in the city between next month and March 7.
“While currently the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan is relatively safe, we still cannot let our guard down, because hundreds of thousands of new cases are being reported daily around the world,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said. “There isn’t community spread in the nation because we have very tight border control measures, but we still have to go on with our lives.”
Ko said that hotels in the capital are one of the sectors that have suffered the most harm from the pandemic, because about 92 percent of foreign travelers who visit Taiwan spend one night in Taipei, but now there are hardly any foreign visitors.
Photo: Yang Hsin-hui, Taipei Times
It is a different situation from hotels in the east of Taiwan and on outlying islands, which are full of domestic tourists due to tight border controls, he said, adding that to support Taipei’s hotels the city government has since July launched two subsidy programs, and that it would be launching another next month.
“We plan to subsidize 100,000 members of tourist groups NT$1,000 per person, and the same for 100,000 independent travelers. We have prepared a total budget of NT$200 million,” Ko said.
The department said that the subsidy for members of tourist groups would be available from Tuesday next week to March 7 in three stages — for 30,000 travelers next month, another 30,000 from Jan. 1 to Jan. 31, and 40,000 between Feb. 1 and March 7.
The group must spend at least one night in a registered hotel, eat at least one meal, and visit at least two shopping areas, night markets or designated sightseeing spots in the capital to be eligible for the subsidy, the department said.
Subsidies would be offered to 50,000 independent travelers until Jan. 31, and then another 50,000 from Feb. 1 to March 7.
The subsidy is to be limited to an overnight stay before a working day, meaning it would not be available for hotel bookings on Fridays or Saturdays, but it would be available during the Lunar New Year holiday to encourage more domestic tourists to visit Taipei, it said.
Independent travelers can start applying for the subsidy on the department’s Web site from Dec. 20.
They are required to book their room directly with the hotel.
Many events are being held in Taipei until March, including the Shilin Residence Chrysanthemum Show, Gongguan Christmas Month, the Taipei New Year’s Eve Party, the Taipei Marathon, the Lunar New Year Shopping Festival and the Taipei Lantern Festival, Ko said, so the city government would like to invite more people to visit the capital.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
The New Taipei Metro's Sanyin Line and the eastern extension of the Taipei Metro's Tamsui-Xinyi Line (Red Line) are scheduled to begin operations in June, the National Development Council said today. The Red Line, which terminates at Xiangshan Station, would be connected by the 1.4km extension to a new eastern terminal, Guangci/Fengtian Temple Station, while the Sanyin Line would link New Taipei City's Tucheng and Yingge stations via Sanxia District (三峽). The council gave the updates at a council meeting reviewing progress on public construction projects for this year. Taiwan's annual public infrastructure budget would remain at NT$800 billion (US$25.08 billion), with NT$97.3
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS