The Philippines absent from summer’s biggest travel fair; outbound tours may be banned if red alert issued

Reporter Zhu T... (Taipei report)

The Philippines has made no statement regarding the shooting of Taiwanese fishermen by its official vessel. The government may decide to implement eight countermeasures by the evening of the 15th, including halting economic exchanges and air rights negotiations with Taiwan, issuing a red travel alert for the Philippines, and suspending visa-free entry. Travel industry operators have expressed full cooperation—they will ban tours, and fees for tours after the end of May should be fully refundable; however, package tours on chartered flights may incur certain losses.

% He... (New Taipei Travel Industry Association chairman, see photo) clearly stated that they will fully cooperate with the government’s strategy and have asked the Philippine Tourism Office to withdraw from the summer’s biggest travel fair. (Photo/Reporter Zhu T...)

Xu ..., Chairman of the Taipei Travel Agents Association, said: “The number of Taiwanese tourists traveling to the Philippines is already lower than to other destinations. If a red travel alert is issued, we believe the impact won’t be on us. We will also cooperate in providing refunds. Fees for tours after the end of May should be fully refundable. The more troublesome issue is the so-called chartered flights—since most tour costs, including flights and accommodations, have already been paid or deposits made, refunding those is more complicated. The association will coordinate with airlines and discuss with operators on how to handle it.”

In preliminary discussions between the association and operators, once a red travel alert is issued, fees for tours after the end of May should be fully refundable, but for chartered flight tours, travel agencies will definitely bear some losses, and traveler rights will need further discussion. Xu ... said that from June to July there are over 10,000 scheduled tours to the Philippines. Currently, about 180,000 Taiwanese tourists visit the Philippines per year. If countermeasures are enacted, it is estimated that over 30,000 travelers’ plans will be forced to cancel or change, which would be a significant blow to the 30 domestic travel agencies that operate Philippine tours.

% Ji... (Deputy General Manager of the Taipei International Travel Fair, second row, seventh from left in photo) suggests that tourists visit the travel fair to explore many destinations that are even more fun than the Philippines. (Photo/Reporter Zhu T...)

As for the much-anticipated summer travel fair, after careful evaluation of the situation and discussions with the Philippine Tourism Office, it was decided to ask the Philippine Tourism Office to withdraw from the exhibition. Ding Lai, CEO of the Taipei International Tourism Expo, said: “After China’s avian flu, the Korea conflict, and now the Philippine incident, this year’s tourism industry is really fragile. However, we still support government policy. Although we’ve asked the Philippines to withdraw, there may also be tour cancellations, but there are still many great places to visit. For instance, this year’s travel fair has added a five-star special zone domestically. We hope not only to bring in international offerings, but also to help the domestic tourism industry thrive through this expo.”