Taiwan approves tourism guidelines but health authority says plan to reopen border must wait until Covid cases drop
- Reopening is a step closer after guidelines proposed by Tourism Bureau to allow travel agencies to organise inbound and outbound tours are approved
- Island warned the number of new cases will continue to rise through September and could only show signs of easing by mid-October
Reopening came one step closer on Wednesday after Taiwanese health authorities approved guidelines proposed by the island’s Tourism Bureau to allow local travel agencies to organise inbound and outbound tours.
Wang Pi-sheng, head of Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Centre, confirmed in a news conference in Taipei on Wednesday that the guidelines – which outline restrictions and procedures for local tourist agents – were approved by the centre.
“The guidelines pave the way for us to reopen the country’s border in the future,” he said.
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But he stressed that as new infection cases continued to rise it was impossible for the centre to recommend reopening the border now.
“The pandemic is still at its peak in Taiwan with new infections reported every day,” he said.
Taiwan recorded 49,708 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday – up from 47,051 infections on Tuesday – with 37 deaths, also a rise from 17 a day before.
The island’s health authorities have warned that the number of new cases, brought by the highly contagious BA.5 variant of Covid-19, would continue to rise through September and may only show signs of easing by mid-October.
Wang said only when the case number dropped would the centre be able to recommend a timeline for reopening the island’s border. He said the centre would continue to discuss with relevant authorities the timing and when the current ban on organised tours should be lifted.
Taiwan shut its border in February 2020 and banned local agencies from organising inbound and outbound tours to avoid the spread of the virus.
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Lin Hsin-jen, deputy director general of Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau, said the guidelines – which list procedures for local agents and tourists, including steps to prevent outbreaks – could help agents plan for and manage organised tours once the ban was lifted.
“This will also help them prepare for cross-border tour arrangements in the future,” Lin said, adding that the guidelines could be modified to meet the changing pandemic situation and any new Covid prevention measures announced by foreign governments.
The guidelines were proposed by the bureau following instructions in August by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to establish a timeline and draft measures for reopening the border to help save the pandemic-hit local tourism industry, as neighbours such as Singapore, Thailand and Japan either reopened their borders or relaxed border controls.
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Robert Kao, head of the research and development committee of the Taipei-based Travel Agent Association, however, said he doubted the border would reopen before November given the coming local government elections.
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“It is unlikely the border will reopen and the ban on organised tours be lifted by that time as the most the government fears would be a new record of rising Covid cases that would dampen the chances of the ruling party in the November 26 local polls,” he said.
Kao said foreigners and locals would have little interest in visiting Taiwan or travelling abroad if the government did not reduce the island’s current quarantine practice from 3+7 – three days at either a hotel or home plus a seven-day self-health management period – to 0+7 for people entering Taiwan.
