The Travel Agent Association of Taiwan yesterday threatened to boycott tours to Thailand if the Thailand Trade and Economic Office (TTEO) in Taipei insists on implementing a new policy requiring online tourist visa applicants to submit a financial statement.
The new policy, which took effect on Sunday, applies to Taiwan, China, Britain and France, TTEO said last week, adding that it chose Taiwan to first implement the procedure, because it is a world leader in information technology.
However, travelers and travel agents in Taiwan have said that the policy is disrespectful of Taiwanese tourists, and the government has humiliated the nation by agreeing to the arrangement.
Association chairman Hsiao Po-jen (蕭博仁) said that he had heard that TTEO would temporarily halt the implementation of the policy and make an announcement about it yesterday.
However, not only did the office not make such an announcement, it said that it would implement the policy as planned, Hsiao said.
“This policy was decided by the TTEO itself for its own convenience. Nearly 700,000 Taiwanese tourists travel to Thailand each year. Why do they still need to enclose a financial statement when they apply for visas? Taiwan is not a third-world country. The policy is just ridiculous,” he said.
The government has waived the visa requirement for Thai tourists to encourage more to travel to Taiwan, but it allowed the Thai government to impose restrictions that hinder Taiwanese tourists from easily traveling to Thailand, he said, adding that he would visit the TTEO today to speak up for the travel agents.
“If the office’s mind is set on mistreating Taiwanese tourists by enforcing the policy, I would write to travel agents across the nation, asking them to stop organizing tours to Thailand,” Hsiao said.
Hsiao also said he blamed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for being weak and believing that the matter is not under its purview.
The ministry should halt its visa-waiver program for Thai tourists, he added.
Many people have complained that they cannot access the new online visa-application system, Twins Tour general manager Wu De-lun (吳德倫) said, adding that people would find it even more unacceptable if they have to present their financial statement when they apply for a visa.
This was not the first time TTEO has come under criticism from local travel agencies for enforcing unpopular policies.
Last year, the association protested the office’s proposed NT$470 visa fee increase and threatened to stop sending tourists to Thailand, which eventually caused the office to drop the idea.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS