COME ONE, COME ALL:he Executive Yuan is seeking to boost tourism as the economy falters, while a travel association urged a requirement for the tourists to have insurance
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 21, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao and Shelley Shan / Staff reporters
The Executive Yuan yesterday said the cap on the number of Chinese tourists traveling
Cabinet Spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun, right, pushed Financial Supervisory Commission Chairperson William Tseng, center, as a joke, as National Development Council Minister Woody Duh, left, leaves the podium in smile after a Cabinet press conference. Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
to Taiwan via the Free Independent Travel (FIT) program is to be raised to 5,000 a day to boost the country’s tourism.
With the GDP growth forecast for this year slashed by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) to 1.56 percent last week, the Cabinet said that at least four measures would be carried out to boost the nation’s tourism and service industries.
The measures include the waiving of visa fees for Southeast Asian tourist groups meeting certain conditions, encouraging Taiwanese firms to have their overseas employees travel to Taiwan, lowering the threshold for tax refunds for tourists and relaxing the cap on the number of Chinese tourists traveling via the FIT program.
National Development Council Minister Woody Duh (杜紫軍) said the changes could help the nation generate NT$8.85 billion (US$271 million) in tourism profits by the end of the year. [FULL STORY]
