COVID-19: Tourism relief not enough: trade groupLOOKING FOR MORE: Last year, travel agencies only had to contend with losses from fewer foreign travelers, but this year domestic tours have also been suspended, it saidBy Cheng Wei-chi and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with staff writerA tourism industry group yesterday criticized the government’s COVID-19 special relief funding for tourism, saying that the government had allocated less money for the industry than last year, despite a worse outbreak situation. Travel Quality Assurance Association president Tony Hsu (許禓哲) told an online news conference that the nation’s tourism industry has suspended all foreign group tours indefinitely due to the pandemic. Subsidies granted to travel agencies for suspended tours totaled NT$154 million, or NT$10,000 per tour group, for a maximum of eight groups per travel agency. Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei TimesAssociation spokesman Lee Chi-yueh (李奇嶽) said that subsidies for group tours should not be a fixed sum, but should be based on the size of the group tour being suspended. The association said that the MOTC should match the MOEA subsidies, offering a flat NT$10,000 per employee and from NT$10,000 to NT$50,000 based on the size of a group, for losses incurred due to suspended group tours.

Source: Taipei Times June 05, 2021 15:56 UTC