Industry exhibitions in Taipei are usually crowded, hectic affairs. But true to the spa industry's focus on comfort, the Taipei Spa Show began yesterday at the Taipei World Trade Center's Exhibition Hall III in a relaxed, inviting atmosphere.
The five-day show is aimed at raising public awareness of spa services and treatments, and gives visitors a chance to interact face to face with more than 50 exhibitors.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"Taiwan's spa-goers account for less than 1 percent of the overall population," said Joyce Yang (楊郁雯), vice president of President Being Corp (統一佳佳), which operates 14 spa centers around the nation.
"But Taiwan has world-class day spas. Operators are well-versed not only in creating the right atmosphere, like those on the Indonesian island of Bali, but also providing real effects to meet customers' needs," she said.
This year's exhibition introduces a wide range of spa-related activities -- from the latest spa sessions, spa music therapy, essential oils, spa hot-spring hotels, spa trips and cosmetology seminars.
Although spas only made their debut appearance here in 1998, the industry has become a booming sector with the potential to put Taiwan on the global tourism map, said Candy Tang (
Tang lauded spa services as the perfect means of reversing the nation's falling foreign tourism figures.
For the first eight months of the year, the number of foreign visitors totalled 1,890,604, a decline of 2.79 percent from the same period in 2002, according to statistics released by the Tourism Bureau yesterday. Statistics for last year were not counted because the nation was hit by the SARS epidemic.
"By holding this large-scale exhibition, we hope the government will recognize our efforts and the importance of this fast-growing industry," said Tang, who is also president of Alexander Health Club (
In addition to the 208 booths occupied by local and foreign exhibitors, organizers designed three theme parks inside the hall to showcase spa fashion, flower tea and vanilla.
Organizers have worked hard to bring in numerous exhibitors and attract 500,000 people to the exhibition. But one 38-year-old visitor felt a bit disappointed.
"It would be better if more spa operators could come to provide us with more information," said spa lover Lu Shan-ling (盧善玲), adding that she usually spent more than NT$10,000 a year to relieve stress and stimulate her metabolic rate.
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to