International visitors to Taiwan from next month will be eligible to participate in a draw in which 500,000 individual tourists would receive cash incentives, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
Individual travelers to Taiwan are to be eligible to receive NT$5,000 each.
Meanwhile, each tour group arriving from overseas is to receive up to NT$50,000 if staying in Taiwan for at least three days, the Ministry of Transportation and Communication said yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The ministry developed the incentive program to expedite the arrival of international tourists after setting a goal of attracting 6 million international tourists this year.
More than 1 million international tourists arrived during the first quarter of this year, exceeding an earlier target of 820,000.
With a tentative start date of May 1, individual tourists next month would be able to enter the draw at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Taichung International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport, the ministry said.
The draw is not available to those arriving via cruise ships or the “three small links” connecting Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to China, it added.
Separately, to address labor shortages in the hospitality industry, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts are to receive NT$5,000 per new hire each month for one year to incentivize hiring, the transportation ministry said.
To receive the funding, new employees must be paid at least NT$33,000 per month if in Taipei, Taoyuan, New Taipei City, Keelung, Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City, while those in other cities and counties must be paid a monthly salary of NT$31,000 or more, the ministry said.
New hires must be employed for more than six consecutive months, it added.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one