ANNIVERSARY ADVENTURE:
With funding expected to get legislative approval soon, a thousand people a month should receive the birthday tourism vouchers
By Shelley Shan
/ Staff reporter
A drawing is to be held monthly beginning next month for birthday-linked accommodation vouchers as part of incentives to boost domestic tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday.
Separate drawings would be held from April for subsidies for people traveling domestically on Sundays through Thursdays, the agency said.
One thousand people would be awarded birthday vouchers each month, with each voucher valued at NT$1,200 (US$38.29), it said.
Photo: Tsai Yun-jung, Taipei Times
The subsidies for weekday travel would be NT$800 for a one-night stay and NT$1,200 for a two-night stay, it added.
Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) said that the subsidies for weekday travel should become available on April 1, as legislative approval of a budget to fund them is expected in March.
People who win birthday vouchers next month or in February would not receive them until the budget is approved, Huang said.
The ministry presented other plans to boost domestic tourism and attract international visitors at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, including an amusement park overnight stay program, corporate employee domestic travel incentives and weekday domestic travel discounts for Taiwan Pass holders.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) said he hopes that the budget — proposed to be about NT$2.3 billion — to fund the plans would be implemented by March.
The goal is to encourage people to travel more often, especially on their birthdays, and to visit amusement parks, Chen said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Kun-tse (李昆澤) asked whether there was any possibility of increasing the number of birthday vouchers given out per month, as only 12,000 people per year would receive them at the proposed level.
“We will try our best to see if we can increase the number of recipients, as it is a good thing to celebrate birthdays,” Chen said.
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