While pilot tours to Palau were sold out within one week of being made available for purchase, some tour operators said only half of the tours in the next three batches were sold, as high costs might have turned away some potential customers.
Palau became the first country that Taiwanese can visit for tourism amid the COVID-19 pandemic after the two countries created a “travel bubble” earlier this month. The first tour group is to depart for Palau on Thursday.
According to the guidelines issued by the Central Epidemic Command Center, travelers to Palau must join group tours and adhere to self-health management guidelines for 14 days upon their return.
Photo courtesy of KKDay
China Airlines would be the sole carrier for the group tours in the first two weeks, offering two flights per week.
The six travel operators selling package tours to the Micronesian country are Lion Travel, Phoenix Tours, G. Tours, Life Travel & Tourist Service Co, DTS Group and online travel platform KKDay.
A total of 110 pilot tour travelers are scheduled to depart from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 2:30pm on Thursday and arrive in Palau at 6:20pm, the airline said.
Phoenix tours said while its pilot tour packages have been sold out, sales for the next three batches have been below 50 percent, adding that high prices and the 14-day self-health management requirement make it difficult to promote the tours.
“We will discuss relaxing the self-health management requirement with the Tourism Bureau. It makes it difficult for us to sell the tour packages, and it could cause financial losses,” the travel agency said.
Phoenix Tours had previously promoted a luxury four-day tour to Palau for NT$69,000, including accommodation at a five-star hotel and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19.
It is now promoting a four-day tour that costs NT$49,000, which includes accommodation at a regular hotel, while travelers need to pay for their PCR tests.
Lion Travel said people wanted to join the pilot tours because they wanted to be part of a significant moment.
Although more than 1,000 people made reservations for the pilot tours, only a small number followed through with payment, while many passed on the offer after they learned about the prices, it said.
The agency said it has sold 70 to 80 percent of the tours in the second batch, while about 60 percent of the tours in the third and fourth batches have been sold.
A tour operator who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bureau kept changing the destinations that are open to tourists, which could not be finalized by Friday.
Many travel agencies were concerned about the perception of customers if they did not strictly follow the publicized itineraries, the operator said.
In addition to high flight and accommodation costs, the bureau has raised boat rental fees from US$1,200 to US$1,700 per boat, with each boat carrying only 17 passengers, down from 25, the operator added.
Boat operators would not be serving lunch aboard as they used to, the operator said.
The Palauan government would have to bear greater responsibility if the “travel bubble” turns out to be a failure, the operator added.
Some people said they would be more receptive to a five-day tour to Palau at a cost of NT$30,000, the operator said.
Given the high tour prices, it is better to travel to some of the nation’s outlying islands and wait until the pandemic is over, the operator added.
KKDay is offering a four-day package at NT$29,999 to people who pre-order “travel bubble” tours, likely the cheapest offering on the market.
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