Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) was yesterday grilled by DPP lawmakers who vowed to strictly scrutinize the bureau’s international marketing budget following a series of reported blunders in its materials aimed at the US market.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Cheng Pao-ching (鄭寶清) and Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) mentioned blogger Kathy Cheng’s criticism of the bureau’s efforts and criticized the bureau for blocking her from commenting on its social media accounts.
Noting the bureau budgets about NT$1 billion (US$33.41 million) annually for overseas campaigns, Lin asked how the money is spent.
The contractor in charge of the campaign for Middle Eastern nations, who was paid NT$15 million, had created a Web site for free, but the site has only attracted about 6,000 page views, Lin said.
The bureau’s Web site aimed at Vietnamese has only 600 page views, while a site in Indonesian on Taiwan was not been authorized by the bureau and has been accused of copyright infringement, Lin said.
Chou said the bureau would review all these problems and seek to address them at meetings with officials at its overseas branches.
Cheng also took aim at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications over the bureau’s NT$40 million travel subsidy program announced on May 15 for tour groups that visit southern Taiwan and Penghu County.
Tourist visits to Chiayi County dropped by almost 40 percent last year, and yet the county was not included in the subsidy scheme.
The ministry would recommend that Executive Yuan include the county in the program, Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Chi Wen-chung (祁文中) said.
Under the program, members of tour groups whose itineraries include weekday visits to destinations or tourism to any of five areas — the Siraya National Scenic Area in Tainan, the Maolin National Scenic Area in Kaohsiung, the East Coast National Scenic Area or the Penghu National Scenic Area — and who spend at least one night in one of the areas, would receive NT$500 per day for accommodation.
However, the subsidies are capped at NT$30,000 per group for those visiting eastern or southern Taiwan, and NT$50,000 per group for Penghu, the bureau said.
Independent tourists traveling in a group of at least three are also eligible for an accommodation subsidy as long as they spend two consecutive nights at the same hotel: the second night’s stay would be free.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
Taiwan and its Pacific ally Tuvalu on Tuesday signed two accords aimed at facilitating bilateral cooperation on labor affairs, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). The governments inked two agreements in Taipei, witnessed by Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) and visiting Deputy Tuvaluan Prime Minister Panapasi Nelesone, MOFA said in a news release. According to MOFA, the agreements will facilitate cooperation on labor issues and allow the two sides to mutually recognize seafarers’ certificates and related training. Taiwan would also continue to collaborate with Tuvalu across various fields to promote economic prosperity as well as the well-being of their
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS