Inquiries about flights and accommodations in Tokyo have jumped following Taiwan’s entry into the second round of the 2013 World Baseball Classic, travel agents said yesterday.
Despite their 2-3 loss to South Korea on Tuesday night, Taiwan qualified for the second round of competition because they lost by fewer points overall than South Korea in the Pool B games. Both countries won two games and lost one.
Best Way Travel manager Chen Tzu-chia (陳子嘉) said people inquiring about travel deals combining flight tickets and accommodation are likely to be free independent travelers (FIT) who want to cheer the Taiwanese team when they compete in Japan.
Photo: CNA
“The difficulty in arranging this kind of travel is travel agencies have to look for hotels that are near the game venue and get flight tickets for all group members,” Chen said.
Aside from problems with accommodation, Chen said those heading to Tokyo may have difficulty buying game tickets as baseball fans from around the world are also going to watch the games.
However, some of the travel agencies had bet that Taiwan would enter the second round and started making travel arrangements for hard-core fans before the Lunar New Year holiday.
In other news, the Travel Quality Assurance Association has released forecast tour group prices for different continents from next month to June. Tour groups to Europe may see prices rise by NT$3,000 to NT$5,000 per person compared with the same time last year because of an increase in airplane ticket prices and a slight appreciation of the euro.
However, prices for tour groups to Japan’s Kansai area could drop by NT$1,000 to NT$3,000 per person due to a weak yen, while those to traveling to the Hokkaido region may see prices drop by about NT$3,000.
People planning to visit the Tateyama Kutobe Alpine Route could see tour prices rise by NT$2,000 due to higher ticket prices.
Tours to Southeast Asia, South Korea, China, North America, the Middle East, South Africa, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand may either be flat or see a slight increase because of higher oil prices, tour bus fares and seasonal factors.
While there will be cross-strait direct flights to nine cities in western China, such as Hohhot, Urumqui and Hailar, travel agents warned that tour prices to these regions are not necessarily cheaper.
“The direct flight services to these airports actually cost more than the transfer flights,” South East Travel Services manager Chen Chih-hung (陳志鴻) said. “These airports are close to some of new and increasingly popular tourist destinations in China, such as the Silk Road and the Hulunbeir Grassland. They attract a large number of Chinese tourists as well.”
Foreign tourists who purchase a seven-day Taiwan Pass are to get a second one free of charge as part of a government bid to boost tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. A pair of Taiwan Passes is priced at NT$5,000 (US$156.44), an agency staff member said, adding that the passes can be used separately. The pass can be used in many of Taiwan’s major cities and to travel to several tourist resorts. It expires seven days after it is first used. The pass is a three-in-one package covering the high-speed rail system, mass rapid transport (MRT) services and the Taiwan Tourist Shuttle services,
Drinking a lot of water or milk would not help a person who has ingested terbufos, a toxic chemical that has been identified as the likely cause of three deaths, a health expert said yesterday. An 83-year-old woman surnamed Tseng (曾) and two others died this week after eating millet dumplings with snails that Tseng had made. Tseng died on Tuesday and others ate the leftovers when they went to her home to mourn her death that evening. Twelve people became ill after eating the dumplings following Tseng’s death. Their symptoms included vomiting and convulsions. Six were hospitalized, with two of them
DIVA-READY: The city’s deadline for the repairs is one day before pop star Jody Chiang is to perform at the Taipei Dome for the city’s Double Ten National Day celebrations The Taipei City Government has asked Farglory Group (遠雄集團) to repair serious water leaks in the Taipei Dome before Friday next week, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said yesterday, following complaints that many areas at the stadium were leaking during two baseball games over the weekend. The dome on Saturday and Sunday hosted two games in tribute to CTBC Brothers’ star Chou Szu-chi (周思齊) ahead of his retirement from the CPBL. The games each attracted about 40,000 people, filling the stadium to capacity. However, amid heavy rain, many people reported water leaking on some seats, at the entrance and exit areas, and the
BIG collection: The herbarium holds more than 560,000 specimens, from the Japanese colonial period to the present, including the Wulai azalea, which is now extinct in the wild The largest collection of plant specimens in Taiwan, the Taipei Botanical Garden’s herbarium, is celebrating its 100th anniversary with an exhibition that opened on Friday. The herbarium provides critical historical documents for botanists and is the first of its kind in Taiwan, Taiwan Forestry Research Institute director Tseng Yen-hsueh (曾彥學) said. It is housed in a two-story red brick building, which opened during 1924. At the time, it stored 30,000 plant specimens from almost 6,000 species, including Taiwanese plant samples collected by Tomitaro Makino, the “father of Japanese botany,” Tseng said. The herbarium collection has grown in the century since its