World News | Tourists flock to Taiwan as COVID entry restrictions ease

TAIPEI (Taiwan), Oct. 13 (AP) Taiwan lifted all COVID-19 entry restrictions on Thursday, allowing tourists unrestricted access to the self-governing island after more than 2.5 years of border controls.

Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as mainland China, have long required most tourists to complete a mandatory quarantine period throughout the pandemic, even as most countries reopen their borders to tourists.

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Visitors are no longer required to quarantine or undergo any PCR tests upon entry.

Instead, they need to monitor their health within a week of arrival and get a negative rapid antigen test result on the day of arrival.

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If people want to go out during the week-long monitoring period, they need to take a negative test from the same day or the day before.

There are no longer any restrictions on certain ethnic groups entering Taiwan.

Under the new rules, dozens of tourists from Thailand on Tigerair flights landed at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, which serves the capital Taipei, shortly after midnight.

Tourists like Mac Chientachakul, 32, and his parents are excited to visit the island.

“Hot pot is my favorite dish in Taiwan,” Chientachakul said. “It’s the first thing I do…I miss it so much.”

Travel agency’s Sonia Chang said the changes would benefit both the tourism industry and Taiwanese residents, who can now travel abroad without having to quarantine when they return home.

Valaisurang Bhaedhayajibh, 53, business development director at the design firm, called the new rules convenient.

“We don’t need to do testing before we come here and after we arrive,” he said. Taiwanese authorities “still require us to conduct self-tests every two days, and everything has been provided”, including rapid test kits.

At the welcome ceremony held in the arrival hall of Taoyuan Airport, Taiwan Tourism Bureau Director Zhang Shizhong met with Thai tourists and distributed gifts.

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau estimated that 244 tourists in about 20 tour groups would arrive on Thursday.

With both Hong Kong and Taiwan lifting restrictions and welcoming tourists back, mainland China remains one of the few places in the world that insists on closing borders and sticking to a “zero-coronavirus” strategy to eradicate the virus.

Hong Kong ended its mandatory quarantine policy for incoming travelers at the end of last month, requiring only a three-day self-monitoring period. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)