The travel industry and airlines said they were ready to cope with the repercussions of the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) decision to raise the travel alert for China to yellow after Beijing confirmed its first case of swine flu in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
Tourism Bureau Deputy Director General David Hsieh (謝謂君) said his agency would send out official notices informing travel agencies of the change.
MAC follows the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ three-color travel advisory.
A Yellow Alert means travelers should exercise caution.
The Tourism Bureau said travelers were entitled to cancel their group tour if they were scheduled to travel to countries on the “Yellow Alert” list and refunds for the tours should be handled under Article 27 of regulations governing the stipulations of standardized contracts between travel agents and their customers.
Customers who cancel their trips more than 31 days in advance are eligible for a 90 percent refund, while those who do so three weeks in advance are eligible for an 80 percent refund. Customers are entitled to a 50 percent refund if they call off their trip the day before the scheduled departure.
However, customers who wait until their scheduled departure date to cancel their trip will not be eligible for a refund.
Meanwhile, Roget Hsu (許高慶), secretary-general of the Travel Agent Association, said the number of travelers heading to Sichuan dropped drastically after last May’s earthquake, although the numbers recently began picking up after China Airlines (CAL) and EVA Airways (EVA) started offering direct charter flights to Chengdu.
As some Chinese tourists from Sichuan arrived in Taiwan on charter flights, both CAL and EVA said yesterday they would comply with government efforts to prevent the spread of the virus.
CAL said it would sterilize aircraft returning from flights to H1N1-infected countries and would hand out face masks to passengers showing symptoms.
EVA said it would check if any passengers have a fever and provide face masks if necessary.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
EVA Air is prohibiting the use of portable chargers on board all flights starting from Saturday, while China Airlines is advising passengers not to use them, following the lead of South Korean airlines. Current regulations prohibit portable chargers and lithium batteries from check-in luggage and require them to be properly packed in carry-on baggage, EVA Air said. To improve onboard safety, portable chargers and spare lithium batteries would be prohibited from use on all fights starting on Saturday, it said. Passengers are advised to fully charge electronic devices before boarding and use the AC and USB charging outlets at their seat, it said. South
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
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