Taiwan will reopen its borders to particular person vacationers from Hong Kong and Macau ranging from subsequent week as a part of efforts to revive the tourism business after the Covid pandemic.
Hong Kong and Macau residents can be allowed to use for customer visas from Feb. 20 as the federal government scraps entry restrictions imposed resulting from Covid, based on a press release from Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council Tuesday.
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“We apologize to many Hong Kong buddies for not having the ability to rejoice Valentine’s Day in Taiwan,” Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh mentioned at a briefing in Taipei. “We have now labored on easing the principles for Hong Kong residents for a very long time, however the determination was delayed resulting from rising uncertainty surrounding Covid after China’s sudden determination to open up.”
Nonetheless, the restrictions on guests from mainland China will stay in place because the Covid state of affairs there may be nonetheless unclear, Liang mentioned.
Even when Taiwan opened as much as Chinese language guests, it could be of little use as the federal government in Beijing nonetheless successfully bars its residents from touring to the island for tourism. In January, China left Taiwan off a listing of 20 permitted locations Chinese language tour teams can journey to. Beijing can be but to carry a ban it positioned on particular person vacationers touring to Taiwan in 2019.
Earlier than Covid, China, Hong Kong and Macau have been among the many largest sources of vacationers to the island. Taiwan goals to draw 6 million vacationers this 12 months, together with 1 million from China, Central Information Company reported earlier, citing Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai.