The domestic travel subsidy is extended to the end of December on weekdays, and operators estimate that the utilization rate is only 20% to 30%

The Executive Yuan announced today that the weekday international travel subsidy will be extended until the end of December. In this regard, industry operators said that after going on the road, consecutive vacations are intensive, but the weekday accommodation subsidy is not applicable to the consecutive vacations. In addition, people usually use special leave to go abroad. The weekday international travel subsidy is not very effective for the industry, and the estimated utilization rate is only 20% to 30%.

The Executive Yuan Council stated today that since the launch of weekday international travel discounts, it has effectively guided tourists to plan continuous accommodation and multi-day itineraries as soon as possible. The second-night continuous accommodation rate nationwide is 54%, among which Hualien, Penghu, Taitung, Lianjiang, Pingtung and Kinmen are higher than the national average. This has effectively promoted the development of regional international travel. Therefore, weekday accommodation subsidies and amusement park overnight activities have been extended to the end of December. At the same time, the Taiwan Pass "50% off plan" evaluation is increasing in the second wave.

The Tourism Department plans to invest a total budget of 3.33 billion in the "tourism two-wheel drive plan", including: five major preferential plans for international travel on weekdays: weekday accommodation, birthday accommodation, amusement park accommodation, Taiwan PASS dual-province plan, and international travel incentives for company employees; to strengthen the international tourism momentum, four projects including international tourists' repeat visits, international tourists' incentive travel, international tourists' convention and exhibition drop-in travel, and international benchmark concert support plans will be launched in September.

Among them, the weekday international travel subsidy funds total 1.53 billion yuan. People can apply for it starting from September 1st. The subsidy was originally scheduled to end on November 30th. But now because the funds have not been used up or the funds have been exhausted, people who stay in legal accommodations participating in the activity on weekdays (Sunday to Thursday, non-consecutive holidays) can get a discount of up to 2,000 yuan for two nights in a row on the main island, and a maximum subsidy of 2,500 yuan for accommodation on outlying islands.

Hong Chongyuan, chairman of the National Federation of Hotel Business Associations of the Republic of China, said that the CITS subsidy was originally scheduled to go on the road in March or April, but due to the impact of budget review, it was postponed to September. However, the extra funds have also been used up, and the central funds have not been approved. Before going on the road, the Tourism Administration did not convene the chairman of the hotel association of each county and city for discussion.

Hong Chongyuan said that consecutive vacations are intensive after hitting the road, but the consecutive vacations are not applicable to weekday accommodation subsidies. In addition, people usually use special leave to go abroad. Therefore, the benefits are not high for various industries, and the estimated utilization rate is only 20% to 30%. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, which has four days in a row, people will take two days of special leave to go abroad instead of choosing international travel. Air tickets are difficult to get, but the performance of domestic hoteliers has not grown.

Hong Chongyuan continued that this plan is divided into two days of subsidy, resulting in most tourists only using the 800 yuan subsidy on the first night, which cannot drive in-depth local tourism.

Li Qiyue, a tourism industry operator, said that this time the CITS subsidy budget was approved and the publicity period was short, resulting in low public discussion. In addition, in terms of system design, compared with the past, the tourism subsidy was 1,000 yuan for the first and second nights, this time it was reduced to 800 yuan for the first night and 1,200 yuan for the second night. The Tourism Office has good intentions, but in fact, people do not use so many special holidays, so many people may only use the first night subsidy, and the incentives are low. In the past, the industry has also proposed with the Tourism Bureau to open Fridays.