The Tourism Bureau will launch a website Thursday evening that will allow people to see which cities and counties still have quarantine hotel rooms available, the bureau’s Director-General Chang Shi-chung (???) said Wednesday.

On the website, travelers will be able to select the date they wish to check in and which city or county they want to stay in, with a traffic light system to be used to indicate availability, Chang told reporters before heading to a legislative hearing.

A red light indicates that there are no rooms left, a yellow light means that there are fewer than 20 rooms available, and a green light signals that there are 20 or more rooms still available, Chang said.

Travelers can then book a room by contacting administrative staff at the city or county they plan to stay in, Chang said.

Currently, there is no convenient way for people to check where quarantine hotel rooms are available as cities and counties have adopted different booking methods, Chang said, so the website will make it easier for travelers to find an available room.

The government also plans to increase the number of quarantine hotel rooms in Taiwan to 32,000 from the current 26,000 by the end of the year, Chang added.

The website is being introduced in anticipation of a surge of arrivals before the Lunar New Year holidays, with an estimated 40,000 overseas Taiwanese being expected to travel back to Taiwan, straining quarantine resources.

The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has introduced measures to ensure that there will be enough rooms at government quarantine centers and quarantine hotels for travelers to stay in, such as shortening the period in which people have to stay in these facilities from 14 days to 10 days.

The relaxed rules apply to travelers arriving from non-high-risk countries between Dec. 14, 2021, and Feb. 14, 2022. Although these travelers still have to quarantine for 14 days, they only have to spend the first 10 days at a hotel or government facility, while the last four days can be spent at a residence in Taiwan.

The CECC is expected to release details about government quarantine center bookings in a press briefing Wednesday afternoon. Currently, people can only book rooms if they arrive in Taiwan on or before Nov. 30.

There are around 3,500 rooms at government quarantine facilities in Taiwan, according to the CECC.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel