The date was first floated last week amid a string of other announcements to ease the island’s strict border control measures, including the end of polymerase chain reaction tests for travellers arriving on the island.
On Thursday, the island also resumed visa-free entry for citizens of countries that previously had that status, including Singapore.
Despite doing away with quarantine, travellers will still be required to monitor their health and take antigen rapid tests over a seven-day period.
They will each be given four antigen rapid test kits at the airport on arrival.
The tests are self-administered and travellers can go out as long as they have a negative test result within two days. Travellers do not need to report their temperatures.
It is about time measures were lifted for inbound tourists, Associate Professor Huang Cheng-Tsung of the tourism department at Providence University in Taichung told a news agency.
The number of COVID-19 cases detected on arrival usually makes up a tiny fraction of Taiwan’s total daily cases, so it would have a limited impact on healthcare services.
There is really no need to restrict the entry and exit of travellers, he said.
On Wednesday, the health authorities reported more than 48,400 local daily COVID-19 infections and 192 imported cases.
Taiwan is one of the last remaining economies in Asia that still has quarantine rules in place, although in June it cut the number of days travellers are required to be in isolation from seven to three.
The gradual easing of restrictions is part of what the island calls the “new Taiwan model”, which strives towards coexistence with the virus without shutting down the economy.
Last week, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said on Facebook that the island has “finally come to the final moment of the pandemic” while posting on the easing of border measures.
The pandemic has battered Taiwan’s tourism industry. In 2019, the island saw a record 11.8 million tourists, but the number was a dismal 140,479 last year.
Prior to the pandemic, tourists flocked to the quaint railway town to pen their wishes on paper lanterns before releasing them into the sky.
In the past 2½ years, the alleys lining the iconic train tracks that run through the middle of the town have been eerily quiet. Mr Hu’s store has seen a 90 per cent drop in customers.
While borders were closed to tourists, many travel industry workers pivoted to other sectors – a problem hotels and travel agencies are now grappling with as they compete to boost staffing.
Lion Travel, one of Taiwan’s largest travel agencies, has been on a recruitment drive since May, trying to bring the size of its workforce to at least 80 per cent of pre-Covid-19 levels.
Before the pandemic, the company had around 3,600 workers, but the number has since whittled down to 1,600.
Luxury hotel chains, including Mandarin Oriental, Taipei as well as the LDC Hotels & Resorts Group which runs nine properties across the island, said they, too, are doubling down on efforts to hire workers as borders reopen.
Mandarin Oriental, Taipei is eager to bring staffing strength back to 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, as 80 per cent of its room guests used to be international travellers.
LDC Hotels has seen a 30 per cent reduction of staff in its housekeeping and catering divisions, but the group is optimistic that things will return to the way they were before.
Tags: COVID-19, end of quarantine for visitors, Taiwan, Taiwan’s Tourism
