The Tourism Administration has proposed an amendment to the Regulations Governing Travel Agencies (旅行業管理規則) that would require travel agencies organizing group tours to assign a dedicated tour guide to accompany tours during the entire trip.
While travel agencies are required to assign a tour guide for domestic group tours, the regulations do not explicitly state that guides should accompany a group throughout the trip.
As a result, some group tours do not have a guide for parts of the itinerary, which can result in delays when handling unexpected incidents.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
“While the original intent of the regulations was to require travel agencies to assign a tour guide to accompany the group throughout the trip, some agencies pointed out that the regulations do not explicitly state the ‘entire trip,’ so the proposed amendment adds these words to protect the rights of tourists,” Travel and Training Division Director Tang Wen-chi (湯文琦) said on Tuesday last week.
The proposed amendment would explicitly require assigned guides to accompany tour groups for the entire trip, otherwise travel agencies could face a fine of NT$10,000.
When agencies plan trips to Taiwan’s outlying islands, the original tour guide often does not accompany the group to save on travel and accommodation costs, instead they assign a local guide to greet the group upon their arrival, Green Tour travel agency chairwoman Shen Ya-ching (沈雅卿) said.
However, if issues arise, there is no dedicated tour guide on-site to deal with the problem immediately, she said.
Shen said she supports the proposed amendment, as it adds another layer of protection for tourists.
A member of the public, surnamed Lin (林), said that elderly people in their family rely on group tours because they cannot plan transportation or take flights by themselves, so they need travel agency personnel to guide them at all times.
The Tourism Administration said the proposed amendment would also require that travel agencies’ promotional activities do not exaggerate the truth or promote false or misleading statements, and must be consistent with tourism documents.
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