The government respects the free market mechanism, but would continue to help the travel industry weather the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
Lin was pressed by reporters on what the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) would do to help travel agencies who are still struggling financially, despite the government’s promotion of domestic tourism, before he and Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) toured Taipei on a trip organized by the Taipei City Government to promote the Taipei Sightseeing Bus tours.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said the double-decker bus tours have been in operation for three years, offering two routes — the Blue Line (north-south) and the Red Line (east-west) — that run past many famous locations and provide information through headsets in English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean and Thai.
Photo: CNA
However, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said that even as domestic tourism is picking up as the COVID-19 outbreak is under control in Taiwan, the double-decker bus tours are still suffering from a lack of passengers, as foreign visitors previously accounted for more than 80 percent of their customers.
Taipei Sightseeing Bus executive Hsu Hao-yuan (徐浩源) said the company is offering a 50 percent discount (NT$250) to Taiwanese passengers during weekdays as well as other special promotions to boost its ridership.
One pomotion offers a free 24-hour double-decker bus ticket to people who have purchased a weekday discount ticket for the Taipei 101 Observatory, limited to 1,000 sets per day, Hsu said.
People who stay in hotels in the city after Wednesday last week and spent more than NT$1,000 on accommodation would also be offered a free pair of 24-hour double-decker bus tickets, he said.
Meanwhile, other companies in the travel sector are also facing financial problems.
Chinese-language media reports have said that several senior Lion Travel Service Co managers have chosen to take early retirement as the pandemic has severely affected the company’s business.
Life Travel & Tourist Service Co, which has been in business for more than 30 years and at one point dominated the market in southern Taiwan, has said it would cut its payroll by 20 percent following a 90 percent decline of its inbound and outbound travel businesses.
Grand Travel, which has been operating for more than six decades, on Monday notified employees that they would receive just the minimum wage if its financial situation fails to improve.
It also encouraged them to accept being furloughed and offered compensation to those who want to leave the company.
Lin said that companies need to change their business models.
“Overall, the tourism industry has weathered the crisis in the past few months, jointly containing the COVID-19 outbreak, receiving government bailout funds and are now helped by its stimulus package. However, since the pandemic shows no sign of easing in other countries, we need to rely on domestic tours to boost the travel market,” he said.
The government’s planned third relief fund package, which has yet to be approved by the Legislative Yuan, would mainly be used to help tour operators who want to upgrade their service to stay in business by subsidizing their employees’ salaries for three more months, he said.
However, the ministry would also honor those who wish to leave the market amid the pandemic, he said.
“The market is expected to undergo a dramatic change after the pandemic. As a regulator of the tour operators, we would make sure that the transition can proceed smoothly and workers’ rights are protected. We will respect the market mechanism and help keep the travel industry in order,” Lin added.
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