The average rate for a hotel room in Taiwan last year stood at NT$2,913 per night, marking an increase of 5.4 percent over the year-earlier level, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported yesterday.
After compiling its own tallies with statistics from the central bank and the Tourism Bureau, the agency reported that Taiwanese people made 7.781 million trips abroad last year, while Taiwan received 2.95 million visitors from other countries.
These two figures marked an increase of 31.4 percent and 31.2 percent, respectively, over those posted in 2003, when the numbers of both outbound and inbound tourists were relatively low due to an outbreak of SARS, directorate officials said.
As of the end of last year, there were a total of 20,407 rooms in hotels ranging from international five-star hotels to low-end hotels, with the average rate standing at NT$2,913 per night.
Occupancy rates hit 65.6 percent last year, up 9.2 percentage points over the previous year, the officials noted.
With the numbers of both outbound and inbound tourists rising remarkably, Taiwanese people's overall travel expenditures totaled NT$8.17 billion (US$260.19 million) last year, compared with revenue of NT$4.04 billion generated from visits by foreign nationals.
These figures represented an increase of 26.1 percent and 35.7 percent, respectively, over those posted in 2003, officials said.
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