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.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
A former member of the US Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), formerly known as SEAL Team 6, said in an interview with Business Insider that the elite unit’s role in a Taiwan Strait conflict would be more limited than some might expect. The report follows an earlier one in September by the Financial Times, which said the “clandestine US Navy commando unit” has been training for missions to help Taiwan if it is invaded by China. “You don’t use a scalpel for a job a hammer can do,” the former Navy Seal said to Business Insider on condition of anonymity.
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS