Taiwan Plans To Limit Chinese Tour Groups To Certified Hotels

Taipei (Antara Bali) - The Tourism Bureau said Wednesday that it will soon limit the hotels that Chinese tour groups can stay at to reduce travel disputes.

The new policy is designed to improve travel quality, and will take effect as early as the second half of next  year, said Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai at a tea party with them media.

Citing the one to five star ratings system that the bureau is currently pushing for, Lai said Taiwan's hotels lack a unified rating system that has become a major cause of disputes over travel arrangements.

Disputes over accommodations may affect a tourist's impression of Taiwan's travel environment and quality of service, said Lai.

According to the Tourism Bureau, there are currently 103 tourist hotels and over 2,600 regular hotels in Taiwan,  but only 116 of them are under the evaluation of the ratings system. Of that number, 67 are certified by the rating system.

In addition, the government has set a goal to hit 10 million visitor arrivals to Taiwan per year by 2014, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo said at the same occasion.

The number of visitor arrivals to Taiwan reached over five million in 2010.

After the number of visitor arrivals to Taiwan increases, the ministry aims to have accommodation capacity reach 25,000 units in order to meet the increased demand, Mao said.

The current number of qualified units stand at 9,000.(*)