Southeast Asian Visa-Waiver Treatment Could Continue|推動新南向 泰.菲.汶萊免簽擬延
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To promote its New Southbound Policy, the government gave visa-waiver treatment to Southeast Asian tourists on a trial basis, and the number of tourists grew much from 2016 to 2017. The visa-waiver program for tourists from Thailand, the Philippines and Brunei will end at the end of July. The foreign ministry is assessing the possibility of continuing the visa-waiver treatment on a trial basis.
These Thai tourists are in Taiwan for two days. They say they are open to coming back with the convenience of the visa-waiver program.
I think it's convenient and it's OK for Thai people can travel in Taipei. (Would you come again?) Yes, sure.
The government announced visa-waiver treatment for Southeast Asian tourists a few years ago to promote its New Southbound Policy. Over 130,000 Philippine tourists visited Taiwan in 2017, an increase of 65 percent from the year before. The number of Thai tourists to Taiwan also grew 83 percent. Visa-waiver treatment for tourists from the Philippines, Thailand and Brunei will end in July, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs may extend the program.
We will continue discussing it with various agencies and take a look at the results produced by the program in the past year.
The three nations have not reciprocated visa-waiver treatment to Taiwanese nationals, offering only landing visas instead. With the Tsai administration failing to reach its goal of equal treatment, the ministry says there is room to work harder. Meanwhile, one travel agent says the increase in Southeast Asian tourism to Taiwan not only doesn't help Taiwan's economy, but raises social costs.
Tourism has grown by around 10 percent since the program started. At the same time, we are seeing a host of new problems including an increase in illegal labor and illegal immigration.
Most Southeast Asian tourists to Taiwan are young, independent tourists who choose low-cost accommodations. This means travel agencies, tour bus companies and larger hotels continue to struggle in the absence of Chinese tourists. The travel agent also says Southeast Asian nationals often arrive in Taiwan under the guise of tourism but stay to work illegally. The National Immigration Agency has been very busy dealing with illegal worker cases in the last two years.
