Paiyun
Lodge (aka Paiyun Shanzhuang 排雲山莊),
which is where most of those ascending Mount Jade (aka Yushan, 玉山
,
Taiwan's highest mountain - pictured here) spend the night before hiking up to the
summit, has been under renovation since last year. Around the start of this year, members of Taiwan's hiking
fraternity alerted me to an announcement on Yushan National
Park's website, in Chinese only, that when the lodge reopens sometime in the summer, non-Taiwanese will have to pay NT$700 to stay there, while local citizens will be charged NT$220. In other words, as the policy stands, foreigners will pay more than three times what ROC citizens will pay.
Dismayed that such a policy would be considered just when Taiwan's government is trying to boost international arrivals - and concerned that it might set a precedent which would lead to museums, national forest recreation areas and other attractions charging foreigners more - I asked my contact in the national park's headquarters for an explanation. Segments below in blue are responses from government officials; those in purple are emails/letters from my side.
The key part of her reply, which came on February 10, was:
[The] section which is in charge of park entry application explains that we pay more to build an English environment for
foreigners, such as hire English specialist staff, built English edition
website, bilingual guide sign or instruction…etc.
She suggested I send an email to the director of the national park. I did so on February 17:
It
was suggested to me that I write to you because I have expressed
concern about the plan to charge ROC citizens NT$220, but foreigners
NT$700, to stay in Paiyun Shanzhuang once the rebuilding has been
completed.
I have been told by one member of your staff that the difference in pricing is to fund "bilingual services" and "a bilingual environment." I and several other people are very curious about this.
First, I would like to point out that - to the best of my knowledge - nowhere else in Taiwan are foreigners expected to pay more than locals.
I would like to know exactly what services foreign visitors can expect, and how those services differ from or improve upon what has been available in recent years. In my experience, the signs and information boards on the approach to Yushan are pretty good already. However, I admit that few of the national park workers one meets around Paiyun Shanzhuang speak any English.
Also, I would like to know if all non-ROC citizens will be expected to pay the higher fee, even if they are ethnic Chinese from Malaysia or Singapore, or from mainland China.
Furthermore, I would be most interested to know where this proposal originated. Was it suggested by someone within Yushan National Park? Or did it come from the Ministry of the Interior or elsewhere? Also, is the policy being coordinated with government bodies such as the Research, Development & Evaluation Commission (RDEC), which in recent years has been endeavoring to build a bilingual environment? What does the Tourism Bureau think about the policy?
I would be most grateful for detailed answers to these questions, and I truly appreciate your taking the time to explain this policy to me.
I have been told by one member of your staff that the difference in pricing is to fund "bilingual services" and "a bilingual environment." I and several other people are very curious about this.
First, I would like to point out that - to the best of my knowledge - nowhere else in Taiwan are foreigners expected to pay more than locals.
I would like to know exactly what services foreign visitors can expect, and how those services differ from or improve upon what has been available in recent years. In my experience, the signs and information boards on the approach to Yushan are pretty good already. However, I admit that few of the national park workers one meets around Paiyun Shanzhuang speak any English.
Also, I would like to know if all non-ROC citizens will be expected to pay the higher fee, even if they are ethnic Chinese from Malaysia or Singapore, or from mainland China.
Furthermore, I would be most interested to know where this proposal originated. Was it suggested by someone within Yushan National Park? Or did it come from the Ministry of the Interior or elsewhere? Also, is the policy being coordinated with government bodies such as the Research, Development & Evaluation Commission (RDEC), which in recent years has been endeavoring to build a bilingual environment? What does the Tourism Bureau think about the policy?
I would be most grateful for detailed answers to these questions, and I truly appreciate your taking the time to explain this policy to me.
The reply came very quickly:
We sincerely appreciate that you wrote us and give us an opportunity to clarify your or other potential foreign visitors’ doubts.
First of all, the change of the standard of fee is based on the 10th article of Charges and Fees Act “…Administrative fees: shall be set under the direct cost of goods and materials, wages and salaries, and other costs, and by taking indirect cost into consideration…” and the 11th article of Charges and Fees Act “The executive authorities in charge of the concerned matters shall review the standards of charges and fees on a routine…The forgoing routine review shall be made at least once every three years.” The fee of Paiyun Lodge includes the cost of construction, management, and maintenance, etc. Local visitors staying overnight at Paiyun Lodge will be charged NT$220 per night. As for foreign visitors, the fee of NT$700 contains extra cost of management for the service of bilingual staff, the maintenance of website in foreign languages, English signs, and brochures in foreign languages, etc.
The standard of charge is differed from objective condition, nationality, instead of visitors’ language skills. Thus, visitors from Singapore, Malaysia, and China are also charged NT$700.
As for your first question, there are indeed scenic spots and national parks having different standard of fee according to nationality or citizenship, such as the historic spots and museum in Tainan City, Aconcagua Park, Kinabalu Park, Taj Mahal, etc. As your reference, this is the standard of permission fee for Aconcagua Park: http://www.aconcaguatrek.com/aconcagua-expediciones/permisos_in.asp
I wasn't nearly satisfied by the park's response. Apart from it failing to answer some of my questions (I was especially curious if the Tourism Bureau had been consulted, and if the park had sought bilingual-project funds from the RDEC), the statement about Tainan City's historic spots and museums is simply wrong. People who live in Tainan (ROC citizens show the address on their ID cards; foreigners show the address on their alien resident certificates) can enter places like Fort Zeelandia for free. Those who live outside the city limits - be they Taiwanese or foreign - have to pay, and they pay the same regardless of national origin. Also, the Aconcagua Park website clearly states that foreigners living in Argentina pay no more than Argentine citizens.
Accordingly, Robert Kelly (principal author of the Lonely Planet Taiwan guide) and I sent the
following letter to the director-general of the Tourism Bureau on March 12.
In
recent weeks, two changes in the hiking policies of Yushan National
Park have come to our attention. As we are authors of two of the most
popular English-language guidebooks on Taiwan (Taiwan: The
Bradt Travel Guide and Lonely Planet Taiwan),
and are well connected with the foreign hiking community within
Taiwan, we hope your department will be interested in hearing our
views on this matter.
Our
first concern regards Paiyun Shanzhuang currently under
reconstruction. When the cabin reopens later this year, the national
park plans to charge ROC citizens NT$220 for an overnight stay; and
NT$700 for foreign visitors. We have been told by the national park
that the much higher foreign fees will go toward recouping the costs
of funding “bilingual staff, maintaining the park's website in
foreign languages, erecting English signs, and making brochures
available in foreign languages.
All
foreign visitors appreciate the efforts being made by Taiwan's
national parks and other government agencies to deploy
English-speaking staff, improve signs and make other sources of
information clearer. Long-term residents such as ourselves also
recognize that Taiwan has made impressive progress over the past
decade.
But
we are both surprised and dismayed by Yushan National Park's decision
to charge foreign guests higher fees, believing it sends a negative
signal to those thinking of visiting Taiwan. If followed by other
agencies and site managers (such as those at forest recreation areas,
museums, historical sites, etc), it could make Taiwan a significantly
more expensive destination to visit; and as a result significantly
less attractive as a destination.
Within
Asia, Taiwan is already considered a fairly expensive place to
travel. Compared to Thailand, Vietnam and China, for example, is can
be two to four times more expensive for food and lodging. The lack of
high user and admission fees, however, is one way that Taiwan
balances out the expenses, allowing a visitor to Taiwan to spend not
much more than one to China, for example, when all expenses are added
up. If Taiwanese sites begin to charge high admission rates this will
surely be a strike against them in the eyes of many travelers.
We
also think the new policy has not been thought through carefully if
in fact it is a fund-generating measure. Yushan National Park
receives hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, many of who are
foreign travelers. Yet not a single visitor (with the exception of
hikers) is asked to pay even an entrance fee, though they may in fact
benefit from bilingual staff, signposts, and brochures.
One
argument put forth by the national park is that at many attractions
around the world foreign visitors are required to pay more than
locals. This is certainly true but in our experience it is almost
always in countries where local salaries are significantly lower than
the visitors'. For example, in China or Thailand, wages are far below
Western levels and so it is not entirely unfair that foreign visitors
are asked to pay more. However, that said, in recent years among the
biggest complaints now from visitors to China is the discrepancy
between local and visitor entrance fees and the huge rise in the
latter. For Taiwan to replicate unpopular policies elsewhere does not
seem wise to us.
Furthermore,
Taiwan is not a third world country: GDP per capita is now almost
US$20,000 according to the latest GIO reports. This is higher than
the GDP per capita of many of the countries from which visitors to
Taiwan originate (such as Malaysia) and is quite comparable to South
Korea, and not so far below Japan. The higher charge of NT$700 could
also be quite prohibitive for the average young traveler or
backpacker from a Western country; the type of tourist, we should
add, that will be most interested in climbing Yushan in the first
place.
In
short, Taiwan is not a poor country and this kind of unequal
treatment of guests is counter-productive to the image the Tourism
Bureau wishes to spread: i.e., that Taiwan is a safe, prosperous,
advanced nation, steeped in tradition but enjoying all the advantages
of the modern world. In our opinion, if the national park is in need
of higher revenues then it would be much preferable to see entrance
fees charged to all visitors.
Our
second concern regards the high mountain hiking permit system. While
Taroko National Park has long forbidden foreign hikers from climbing
its mountains without a Taiwanese guide (a policy that is at odds
with every other national park) it has come to our attention that
Yushan National Park is also about to engage in selective rules for
foreign hikers: in this case refusing to issue permits for a one-day
ascent of Yushan.
Again,
we believe this sends the wrong message to the world. Foreign hikers
within Taiwan are already complaining to us that they believe the “no
one-day permit policy” is simply a way of forcing them to stay at
Paiyuan Shanzhuang (and hence be charged more). While we don't
believe this is the case, we do agree that the impression such a
policy gives is not positive.
A
“no one-day policy” will also reduce the number of foreign hikers
coming to Taiwan, especially the very experienced. While Taiwan's
mountains are very beautiful they are not a great challenge for
skilled hikers. However, such people do enjoy the challenge of a
one-day ascent. We know of several who live within the Asian region
that make regular trips to Taiwan. If national park policy begins to
alienate such people, Taiwan's mountain reputation could take a large
hit.
Thank
you for taking the time to read our concerns. We would be most
interested in hearing your views.
On April 16 we received a short message in Chinese from the Tourism Bureau, stating that they had received our letter, had assigned case number 10100106051 to it, and forwarded a copy to Yushan National Park.
The
park's most recent response, dated April 18, reads:
This
is a reply to official document No. 10100106051 of Tourism Bureau
submitted on April 16, 2012.
The
“fee-charging standards for the usage of Paiyun Lodge of Yushan
National Park” is based on user pays principle and the differences
on costs and taxes.
- Local visitors: NT$220 per person per night
- Foreign visitors: NT$700 per person per night
- The fee-charging standard for local visitors is applicable to foreign visitors who hold ROC (Taiwan) Resident Certificate.
According
to “National Park Law,” national parks are established for
protecting specific natural scenery, wildlife, and historic sites and
also for the recreation, education, and research purposes. Mt. Jade
main peak and west peak is within the ecological protected area and
scenic area in Yushan National Park. For satisfying the aims of
ecological conservation, recreational quality, and hiking safety, our
park has set up daily maximum capacity for years.
Presently,
the maximum capacity of single day ascent to Mt. Jade main/west peak
has been increased from 20 people per day to 40 people per day due to
the reconstruction of Paiyun Lodge. For single day ascent
application, our park strictly inspects the fitness and experiences
of applicants and the training purpose(s). It is suggested that
foreign visitors hike this route with a Taiwanese guide and be
careful on hiking safety.
We
appreciate your advices to our park.
Robert and I then waited a while, hoping the Tourism Bureau would chip in with comments
of their own. Hearing nothing, on May 9 I sent an email, the core
being:
We
have now received a response from Yushan National Park which has
addressed some but not all of our concerns.
We
are still hoping for an official response from the Tourism Bureau
about the issues raised in our letter. If the bureau plans to make a
response, we should be most grateful if we could receive it by May
18, as we are discussing these issues with a number of newspaper and
magazine editors (in Taiwan and overseas) with a view to writing
about the new pricing policy, and would very much like to know the
bureau's stance.
Possibly
because of the deadline I included, on May 16 we received the
following letter from David W. Hsieh, the new director-general of the
Tourism Bureau:
Thank
you for your email concerning the pricing policy of Paiyun Lodge in
Yushan National Park. From the standpoint of international promotion,
we think that it is not proper to charge foreigners differently from
local citizens for the use of tourist facilities. As we mentioned
before, national parks are outside the jurisdiction of the Tourism
Bureau; we will, however, make strong suggestions about this matter
to the Ministry of the Interior's Construction and Planning Agency,
which is the agency in charge of the parks.
We
do appreciate your efforts to promote Taiwan, and thank you again for
your concern.
At the time of writing this blog post, the triple-pricing announcement is still on the national park's website. It'll be very interesting to see how this pans out. If the park sticks to its guns, it'll upset a good number of foreign visitors while raising very little extra revenue. Snow Mountain is looking even more attractive than before!