The Tourism Bureau is studying the feasibility of offering subsidies to COVID-19 quarantine hotels as they transition back to normal operations after the government announced it would drop quarantine requirements for arrivals, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday.
The nation still has about 382 quarantine hotels, Wang said.
“We thank all quarantine hotels for playing an important role in containing COVID-19 in Taiwan,” he said. “The Ministry of Transportation and Communications and the Ministry of Labor are working together to address the personnel shortage problem facing hoteliers. I also ask the Tourism Bureau to study the feasibility of subsidizing quarantine hotels as they transition back to being a normal hotel.”
Photo: CNA
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) last week announced that international arrivals would no longer be required to quarantine after its new policy takes effect on Oct. 13, the bureau said in a statement on Monday night.
The new policy is the government’s response to the latest developments in the COVID-19 pandemic and the public’s hopes for life returning to normal, it added.
As such, hotels that were previously used for quarantine purposes should prepare to gradually shift back to normal operations, it said.
More than 860,000 people have stayed in quarantine hotels since the government implemented the quarantine policy for international arrivals, the bureau said, adding that the cumulative subsidies for quarantine hotels have exceeded NT$6 billion (US$188.8 million).
During the Lunar New Year holiday, hoteliers provided 32,000 rooms per day to meet travelers’ demand, with the average occupancy rate reaching a peak of 80 percent, the bureau said.
The number of quarantine hotel rooms has fallen to 24,000 per day due to changes in quarantine policy, with the average occupancy rate at about 60 percent, it said.
The Executive Yuan has asked the bureau to help hotels transition and prepare to host domestic and international travelers when the new quarantine policy is implemented, it said.
“We are working with the CECC to develop supporting measures for the new quarantine policy. We are also studying incentives and subsidies that could be provided to hoteliers, which would be announced once they are finalized,” the bureau said.
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