People should continue to visit domestic travel destinations, even though hotels have stopped providing certain single-use toiletries, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The policy, which took effect on Jan. 1, bans hotels from offering toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, razors, shaving cream and shower caps in accordance with an amendment to the Waste Disposal Act (廢棄物清理法).
Hoteliers can provide these items only after customers ask for them.
Photo courtesy of Taoyuan International Airport Corp
Some customers have complained that they were charged a fee for requesting toiletries, while others said that hotel room prices remain expensive even without them. Still others called on people to boycott domestic travel because of the new policy.
“The ban on single-use toiletries has been implemented in accordance with the Ministry of Environment’s policy to restrict the use of plastics,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters at a news conference in Taipei.
“Taiwan remains a fun place to travel, and we hope that people would not boycott domestic travel because of the new environmental protection policy,” he added.
The Ministry of Environment has reiterated that the policy does not ban hotels from offering shampoo, conditioner, shower gels and lotion, provided that these items would be available for use in smaller bottles or 180ml bottles installed in shower rooms, the Tourism Administration said.
Hotels cannot put hairbrushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors and shower caps in the rooms, but service counters can inform customers that they can request or buy toiletry kits if they need one, it said.
“More people are amenable to this practice of sustainable tourism, and reducing the use of single-use toiletries does not compromise the service quality of hotels,” it said.
As to criticism that hotels in Taiwan are more expensive than those in other nations, Chen said prices are determined by the market, and the government is helping hoteliers go in the right direction.
Last year, Taiwan welcomed 7.86 million international travelers, Chen said, adding that the government has set a more practical goal of 10 million this year.
President William Lai (賴清德) said in his New Year’s speech that cross-strait tourism could resume by having the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association of Taiwan and Association For Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits of China negotiate related issues first.
However, Tourism Administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said the agency has yet to receive any notification from China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism or the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Kuo-hsien (林國顯) said that Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 is scheduled to begin trial operations in 2027, adding that eight boarding gates at the terminal’s north concourse would open in the second half of this year.
Construction of the third runway is to be completed in 2030, Lin said.
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