Nearly 300 Taiwanese tourists were left stranded at Phú Quốc, a Vietnamese island off the coast of Cambodia, during the Lunar New Year due to payment disputes between the Taipei-based travel agency “We Love Tour”, previously known as “Mega International Travel Service”, and the local tour company WinnER.
According to news reports, 292 Taiwanese tourists landed in Phú Quốc on Sunday for a five-day trip on the island only to find out that no hotels or restaurants were booked in their names. WinnER stepped in and asked the tourists to pay US$720 each to continue with the rest of the tour, saying “We Love Tour” had not paid the full tour fee. Some tourists refused to pay and chose to fly back to Taiwan.
WinnER company’s General Manager Tang Kai (唐凱) accused the travel agency of failing to fulfill the contract by paying the full travel expenses before the January 31 deadline. In response, the general manager of the travel agency, David Lin (林大鈞), said there was a misunderstanding between the two companies, and both sides reached an agreement on a later day for payment.
Tang refuted the claim and said that no agreement was reached. In the meantime, Tang said he has decided to take care of the 292 tourists and arrange hotels and meals for them based on “humanitarianism.”