Vietnamese officials yesterday visited Phu Quoc Island to handle a dispute between a Taiwanese and a Vietnamese tour operator over outstanding accounts.
The Kien Giang Province Department of Tourism said it would send a task force to study the contracts between Taiwan’s Mega International Travel Service (美加國際旅行社) and the Vietnamese firm, Vietnam’s Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
Mega on Friday and Saturday last week sent nearly 800 tourists to the island for a five-day tour, who were then entrusted to local Vietnamese tour operators.
Photo courtesy of Ziontour (Vietnam)
However, Vietnam WInnER International Travel Co on Saturday asked the 292 tourists under its care to pay US$720 each to continue, saying Mega had only paid one-10th of their tour fees.
Mega had also reportedly not yet paid Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways for the chartered return flights, raising concern that the tourists could become stranded on the island.
The travel agencies and airline reached an agreement to accommodate the travelers and fly them back to Taiwan, despite the outstanding payments.
Photo: Screengrab from Chen’s Facebook page
Yesterday, 613 of the tourists boarded three separate flights to return to Taiwan. The other 150 returned on Tuesday.
The director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Ho Chi Minh City also went to the airport to see the travelers off.
The Tourism Administration earlier said it was working with the Travel Quality Assurance Association to investigate whether Mega had contravened the Regulations Governing Travel Agencies (旅行業管理規則) and its client contracts.
The association would also help handle customer disputes, it added.
Separately yesterday, another travel agency based in Da Nang, Vietnam, said that Mega is notorious for delaying payments.
The two companies have worked together for about 12 years, Ziontour Vietnam manager Phan Anh Tri said.
Over 2019 and 2020, Mega accumulated outstanding accounts totaling more than US$80,000, of which it has only paid US$10,000, he said, presenting a balance sheet.
Three other tour companies in Da Nang have had the same problem with Mega, with the Taiwanese company giving a down payment to ensure they accept the tour, then delaying full payment, he added.
Mega earlier this week rejected WInnER’s claims, saying that the two had agreed to clear payments on Feb. 26.
It also promised to cover all client losses stemming from the dispute.
In other news, Taiwanese Internet personality Chen Neng-chuang (陳能釧), also known as Wan An Hsiao Chi (晚安小雞), has been arrested and detained by Cambodian police yesterday on charges of spreading false information, Cambodian officials told the Central News Agency, adding that he was neither beaten nor robbed as he had claimed.
Chen on Monday claimed that he was broadcasting live in an industrial park near Cambodia’s Sihanoukville Port, which was reportedly the location where scammers sent Taiwanese to work after luring them with promising jobs and high salaries.
The broadcast appeared to have been interrupted by someone attacking him.
Chen went live on Facebook again on Tuesday evening, saying that he had been robbed of US$3,000.
As of yesterday, Chen had not posted any updates on the social media.
Preah Sihanouk Province Governor Kuoch Chamroeun on Tuesday posted a notice on Facebook asking people for help finding Chen.
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said that it respects the Cambodian police’s right to investigate, and its liaison officer stationed in Cambodia would maintain close contact with Taiwan’s representative office in Cambodia and Cambodian police.
Chen could face charges of inciting discrimination, providing false declaration or illegal interference in the performance of public functions, based on previous cases.
Chen’s previous questionable behaviors include filming in a hospital in Kinmen County without permission in 2012 and claiming that the hospital was haunted.
Additional reporting by Ting Yi
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by