Life

MOFA app delivers travel essentials

Foreign Minister Timothy Chin-tien Yang introduces the Travel Emergency Guidance and other MOFA services for ROC citizens traveling aboard at a news conference July 10 in Taipei City. (MOFA)

• Publication Date：07/11/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Kwangyin Liu

ROC nationals going abroad will find their trips more pleasant with the Travel Emergency Guidance, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs July 10.

Launched earlier this year by the Bureau of Consular Affairs under MOFA, this location-based smartphone application provides easy access to travel-related information such as destination weather, flight schedule, emergency contact, travel alerts and currency exchange rates.

“Over the past year, around 9.6 million ROC nationals went abroad,” MOFA Minister Timothy Chin-tien Yang said at a Taipei news conference. “This handy application will help make their journeys safer and more enjoyable.”

“Powered with advanced mobile and cloud computing technology, the MOFA can now better provide essential information to ROC citizens abroad,” he added. The service is the most comprehensive of its kind for Taiwan travelers, according to MOFA, noting that the South Korean and U.S. governments have also been providing similar services to their citizens.

The application can be downloaded from the BOCA website free of charge. The information provided is regularly updated to ensure its usability, sources said.

Other MOFA services available for citizens traveling abroad include a 24-hour emergency hotline, an information kiosk based in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and a predeparture on-line registration database, MOFA noted.