Rules to be eased to attract tourists from six nations

IMPROVEMENT:
The ratio of tourists disappearing upon arrival dropped to nine out of 10,000 as of April 30 last year from three out of 1,000 in 2015

• By Shelley Shan / Staff reporter

The Tourism Administration yesterday said it aims to attract more tourists from India and five Southeast Asian countries by readjusting the procedures to enter the country and easing penalties for travel agencies that lose tourists.

The government on Nov. 1, 2015, implemented the Kuan Hung Pilot Project, which allows people from India, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam participating in group tours organized by designated agencies to apply for electronic visas.

The project is scheduled to expire in December.

Photo: CNA

The agency said it would change the guidelines of the program, as problems have arisen since it was implemented in 2015.

Aside from streamlining the paperwork required for entry permit applications, it would also ease the penalties for travel agencies that lose people — meaning they disappear after entering Taiwan — in the tour groups.

Prior to the change of the rules, travel agencies that host tourists who leave the tour groups without notifying the tour guides or giving any reason would receive a point on their record.

Those with three points on their record would be banned from arranging tours for three months.

Travel agencies who lost more than six people would be permanently banned from the program.

That has caused many travel agencies to stop participating in the scheme, agency officials said.

In addition, large travel agencies lost more people, as they hosted more groups, they said.

The new rules would allow travel agencies to reset their records to zero if they do not lose any people for a year.

For example, if a travel agency received two points for losing two people in March last year, the record would be reset in March if it does not lose any other person until then, officials said.

The previous rules require travel agencies to inform the Tourism Administration within two hours if anyone in their tour groups has to leave Taiwan because of illness or another emergency.

The new rules would allow travel agencies to report such incidents within 24 hours, officials said.

About 74,000 people from the six nations arrived in Taiwan through the program from Nov. 11, 2022, to April 30 last year, the administration said.

The ratio of people disappearing upon arrival dropped to nine out of 10,000 as of April 30 last year from three out of 1,000 in 2015, administration data showed.

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