HCM CITY — The Taiwan (China) Tourism Bureau will resume issuing Kuan Hung visas to Vietnamese tour groups, starting from March 20, HCM City’s Department of Tourism said on Wednesday (March 6).

Taiwan suspended the Kuan Hung Pilot Project, an electronic visa programme designed to increase the number of tour groups, following the disappearance of 152 Vietnamese tourists in Taiwan late last year.

The pilot project allows travellers from some countries, including Việt Nam, on package tours of at least five people to apply for tourism visas without presenting financial statements.

The e-visa programme is used by travel agencies appointed by the Taiwanese Tourism Bureau. E-visa applications are processed within at least seven business days.

Full names of tour leaders and round-trip air tickets for all tour members must be submitted with e-visa applications. 

Vietnamese tour groups travelling to Taiwan via the Kuan Hung visa programme must go through customs checkpoints with their tour leaders.

If one or two tourists flee or exceed the registered length of stay, travel firms will be rejected for e-visa applications for two months.

If more than six tourists violate regulations, the travel agencies will be removed from the list of approved firms for e-visa applications.

Travel firms said that, despite stricter regulations, the reissuance of Kuan Hung visas will lead to an increase in the number of Vietnamese tourists to Taiwan, after sharply declining last year when e-visa applications were suspended. —VNS