Over 1,000 Taiwanese have booked trips to Palau

超過1,000位台灣人預訂了帛琉旅行

60% of expected travelers asked to take first ‘travel bubble’ flight from Taiwan


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — More than 1,000 Taiwanese have booked a trip to Palau through the bilateral "travel bubble" that will begin on April 1, according to Taiwanese travel agencies operating the tours.

On Wednesday (March 17), the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that the inaugural flight of the much-anticipated "travel bubble" will take off April 1. Since the scheme accommodates only group tours, people interested in participating must arrange their trips via local travel agencies.

Among the six Taiwanese travel agencies offering package tours to the Micronesian country, Lion Travel, G. Tour, Phoenix Tours, and Lifetour have opened theirs online. Meanwhile, KKday and DTS Group are expected to make their tours available sometime this week.

G. Tour, which offers four-day trips starting from NT$68,000 (US$2,392), said its first group of 21 people has been fully booked. DTS Group said it has had 60 preliminary bookings for its four and five-day Palau tours, ranging between NT$70,000 and NT$80,000.

Meanwhile, Lion Travel, which only began taking bookings on Monday (March 22), said it has received over 1,000 preliminary bookings for its four and five-day itineraries, which range from NT$74,800 to NT$85,800. It noted that 658 of the expected travelers have asked to be on the first "travel bubble" flight, which can only carry up to 110 passengers.

According to the CECC, there will be two round-trip flights offered exclusively by Taiwan's national carrier China Airlines every week during the initial stage of the bubble. The country's other major carrier, EVA Air, is expected to begin offering its own bubble flights on April 21.