The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday called on the central government to expand its COVID-19 relief package to help the travel industry, which has been hit hard by the pandemic.
From January to March, 19 travel agencies dissolved or suspended operations, KMT Culture and Communications Committee director-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said, citing Tourism Bureau statistics.
Data released by the Travel Quality Assurance Association also showed that 12 travel agencies applied for dissolution from April to last month, she said.
Photo: CNA
Many more travel agencies are struggling, she said, urging the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to provide them with more support.
Wang attributed the problem to a sharp drop in outbound tourism, with Tourism Bureau data showing that the number of people traveling abroad plunged 87 percent to 733,207 from February to May, from 5,743,807 a year earlier.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a “tsunami-like impact” on travel agencies, she said.
Wang urged the central government and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications to roll out the next phase of COVID-19 relief measures as soon as possible.
She also urged the government to consider forming so-called “travel bubbles” with other nations, such as New Zealand, which has the novel coronavirus under control, adding that they would open up opportunities for local travel agencies and reduce their need for government relief.
With domestic travel picking up, the government should also consider ways to spread out tourists, Wang said.
Reports that some travel agencies are considering downsizing or cutting salaries might be an indicator of a imminent wave of company closures, the KMT said, adding that bankruptcies, layoffs and furloughs would weigh on the domestic labor market.
The ministry is not expected to unveil its next phase of relief measures until the end of the month and details of the plan remain unclear, leaving people to question whether the new measures would be enough to help travel companies, it said.
The bureau said in a statement yesterday that Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) had met with industry representatives to listen to their needs.
Travel companies serving inbound and outbound travelers would be the a major focus of the ministry’s next phase of relief measures, which would be implemented soon after it is approved by the Executive Yuan, it said.
Whether the bureau would extend its domestic travel subsidy program past October is to be considered on a rolling basis, depending on the execution of the budget, it said.
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