Lawmakers yesterday asked the Tourism Bureau to stop funding the construction of artificial tourism facilities and focus on helping local governments attract visitors with unique cultural attractions and specialties.
The nation has many similar artificial tourism facilities, which people often visit only once because of their lack of originality, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to review the bureau’s budget for next year.
The nation has 80 villages decorated with colorful murals, 13 skywalks and four glass churches, Lin said.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
These places might have drawn huge crowds initially, but public interest quickly fades, he said.
The committee unanimously passed a resolution proposed by Lin to freeze 20 percent of the budget allocated to develop, build and manage national scenic areas.
The budget might be unfrozen after the bureau submits a report on how it plans to address the attractions issue, the resolution says.
With temples across the nation hosting carnivals and pilgrimages year round, the bureau should design package tours featuring traditional religious events and promote them to international tourists, DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said.
The bureau’s subsidy for religious events could be used to integrate religious activities and local events, such as combining celebrations at Tainan’s Guandi Temple with the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, she said.
Tourism Bureau Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) said that the agency would no longer build artificial tourist attractions like skywalks and would next year focus on promoting tours to “special towns.”
The bureau hopes that a “special town campaign” would draw more visitors to destinations in central and southern Taiwan, he said.
The bureau has rejected three applications to build scenic bridges, Technical Division Director Huang Shi-fang (黃勢芳) said, adding that it would no longer fund murals for villages and attractions.
The Directorate-General of Highways would be in charge of building bridges for transportation purposes, Huang said.
The bureau has allocated about NT$1.83 billion (US$59.3 million) to develop, build and manage national scenic areas in the next fiscal year, Huang said, adding that most of the budget would be used to build or maintain tourism facilities.
The funding would be used to market facilities that have already been built, he said.
As some newly elected mayors and county commissioners are looking to increase exchanges with China, the committee asked the bureau to ensure that problems, such as zero or low-cost tour groups, would not recur.
Travel agents offering such tours seek to make a profit by turning them into shopping tours, they said.
The bureau hopes to attract more independent Chinese travelers, while those traveling with groups would be encouraged to join customized and in-depth tours rather than low-cost tours, Chou said.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS