COVID-19: Tourism Bureau chides operator of ‘vaccine tour’
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By Shelley Shan / Employees reporter
A ban on abroad excursions structured by Taiwanese travel agents stays in location, the Tourism Bureau claimed on Wednesday in response to a travel operator who advertised a 21-working day journey to the US, promising that contributors would get vaccinated versus COVID-19 in Los Angeles.
Agents who contravene the principles would be fined up to NT$150,000, and their operating license may well be revoked, the bureau claimed.
The agent stated that the tour would be “a business option,” adding that vaccinations ought to be Taiwan’s top rated priority amid a surge of the COVID-19 conditions.
There is nevertheless a possibility of contracting the virus, despite a nationwide level 3 COVID-19 inform requiring people to stay at house as considerably as doable, the operator stated.
The advertised itinerary said that tourists would leave Taiwan on Tuesday future week and be administered their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine the following day.
Following a day of rest, individuals would go to preferred destinations like Las Vegas, San Francisco and San Diego, and get a 2nd dose of the vaccine on June 23, it mentioned.
The operator reported that members would continue to require to quarantine on returning to Taiwan two days afterwards.
Travel Excellent Assurance Affiliation spokesman Ringo Lee (李奇嶽) claimed that journey agencies organizing abroad tours is contravening border regulate guidelines issued by the Central Epidemic Command Middle on March 19 very last 12 months.
Organizing abroad excursions for Taiwanese is prohibited, as is organizing excursions in Taiwan for overseas website visitors, he reported.
Arranging tours before the travel ban is lifted is prohibited, other than for excursions to Palau underneath a governing administration-sanctioned “travel bubble,” the Tourism Bureau said.
“Travel businesses are not licensed to set up vaccination tours, as the nation has particular laws on how vaccines need to be administered. These breaching the regulations could confront a great from NT$30,000 to NT$150,000,” the bureau claimed.
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