Attractions in Palau such as the “Milky Way” and “Clam City” snorkeling spots are to be among designated tourist sites for visitors from Taiwan, in a “travel bubble” encompassing the two nations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Palau Visitors Authority (PVA) Taiwan office director Alex Lei said yesterday.
Lei made the statement after reports of major progress on a plan to ease COVID-19-related travel restrictions between the two countries last week.
To prepare for the travel bubble, the PVA has compiled a list of hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions that meet its pandemic-control requirements, Lei said.
Tours for Taiwanese visitors would be limited to the listed locations, he said.
“No visits are allowed to places that are not on the list,” Lei said.
However, the list includes major tourist sites such as the snorkeling spots known as Milky Way and Clam City, even though the number of visitors to each location would be limited, he said.
More sites might be included later, as they get certified by local authorities as pandemic-safe, Lei said.
Asked about reports that only a five-day tour at a price of NT$80,000 would be offered, Lei said that tourist agencies would likely respond to demand for tours at different prices.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that it is in talks with the Palauan government on the travel bubble, which might be implemented late this month.
Palau, one of Taiwan’s 15 diplomatic allies, has not had any confirmed cases since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Chinese military drone was spotted conducting reconnaissance off Taitung County as President William Lai (賴清德) visited Pingtung County this morning to inspect a drill of the armed forces’ precision-strike capabilities, prompting the military to closely monitor its actions. Today was the final day of a three-day military exercise at Jioupeng Base (九鵬基地) to test the joint combat capabilities of the armed forces and coast guard. The exercise began on Wednesday simulating air defense interception and yesterday tested long-range strike capabilities and new air defense weapons. This morning, the military conducted a final exercise involving air defense, anti-ship and drone operations. Military sources said
OCT. 31: The antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Eraflu have been distributed to about 4,000 medical facilities nationwide for people in seven groups who develop flu-like symptoms As the domestic influenza epidemic enters its peak season and continues to escalate, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday announced that publicly funded influenza antiviral drugs for seven eligible groups have been extended to Oct. 31, allowing those who develop flu-like symptoms to receive the medication without undergoing a rapid influenza test. The CDC has extended the expanded use of flu antiviral drugs to seven groups: healthcare and influenza-prevention personnel; residents and staff at nursing homes, long-term care facilities and similar institutions; kindergarten and daycare workers and home-based caregivers; students from kindergarten through high school, vocational high school and the
RARE PEEK: The footage released showed one of the bears staying in a cave for as long as 70 days, providing the first record of Formosan black bear’s overwintering The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday released tracking records of released Formosan black bears for the first time, showing that they get much closer to human settlements than previously thought. The agency said it had captured two bears, Da Qu-ali (達古阿里) and Aziman (阿里曼), in indigenous villages in Hualien County and began to track them with a camera-mounted satellite collar after releasing them back into the wild. The results confirmed that the bears have moved from deep mountain areas into lowland hills closer to human communities, leading to an increase in human-bear conflicts, it said. The agency has introduced artificial intelligence-assisted early
Taiwanese Tsai Chin-shu (蔡金樹), who had been imprisoned in China for engaging in activity that “endangers national security,” said on Facebook on Friday that he has returned to Taiwan. Tsai, chairman of the Southern Taiwan Union of Cross-strait Relations Associations, had traveled frequently between Taiwan and China for years, and at one time ran a trading company in China’s Pingtan. In July 2018, he traveled to Quanzhou, Fujian Province, to attend a cross-strait food trade fair and stayed at a hotel in Xiamen. He checked out the following day and then disappeared. His family had made repeated appeals to the authorities
RSS