More than 3,000 travel agencies, hoteliers and other tourism business operators have applied to allow customers to use domestic travel vouchers to pay for the services, the Tourism Bureau said yesterday.
The bureau is to issue 1.2 million travel vouchers valued at NT$1,000 each to boost the domestic tourism sector. People can use them, along with the Executive Yuan’s Quintuple Stimulus Voucher program, with citizens and foreign residents getting NT$5,000 worth of vouchers each.
As of yesterday, more than 10 million people had registered for the free draw for the travel vouchers.
Photo provided by the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau
The bureau said that it has received more than 3,000 applications from travel agencies, hotels, bed and breakfast owners and amusement park operators to allow them to accept the vouchers as payment. A list of qualified operators is to be announced tomorrow on the voucher program’s official Web site 1000.taiwan.net.tw/Home.aspx, it added.
Winners will be given a QR code, which they can use when making payment by allowing business operators to scan the code and then entering the last four digits of their national ID card number for confirmation, it said.
The vouchers cannot be returned once used, the bureau said, adding that refunds must be processed based on the refund policy set by business operators.
Consumers are allowed to use multiple travel vouchers at a time, provided they enter the last four digits of all national ID numbers under which the vouchers are registered, the bureau said.
They cannot use the travel vouchers to pay for accommodation at quarantine hotels, it said.
“Quarantine hotel operators cannot apply for permission to accept vouchers as payment,” the bureau said. “They can file applications after they stop accepting guests who need to be quarantined and their facilities are thoroughly disinfected.”
Travel voucher users can ask to type in their business administration number on a separate invoice or receipt for the remaining expenses after NT$1,000 has been deducted, the bureau said, adding that hoteliers and bed and breakfast owners must not deliberately raise the room price if they accept travel vouchers.
Hoteliers that had been involved in fraud, forgery and personal data theft are not qualified to participate in the domestic travel voucher program, the bureau said.
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