Visa Inc’s latest Travel Intentions Survey found that Taiwanese like to visit Japan the most, attracted by its cuisine, shopping convenience and historical sites.
Japan was ranked as the favorite travel destination by 76.2 percent of Taiwanese respondents to the poll, followed by Hong Kong with 31.6 percent and South Korea with 28.1 percent, the US credit card company said on Thursday, citing the survey results.
“Japan offers a wide range of activities for tourists to explore as ‘theme travel’ has gained popularity among Taiwanese in recent years,” Visa said.
Taiwanese in the 40-49 age group give top priority to Tokyo, while the 20-to-24 age bracket favors Osaka as a destination for a “gourmet journey,” the survey found.
A large majority, 73.2 percent, cited ramen, a Japanese noodle soup dish, as the must-eat item during their trips to Japan, the survey found.
Going shopping was the next most popular item on potential travelers to Japan’s “to do” list.
Japan is considered a shopping paradise for Taiwanese who have shown a penchant for Japanese health supplements, cosmetics, skincare products and consumer electronic devices, Visa said.
While Taiwanese females enjoy buying cosmetic and skincare products, the men enjoy shopping for consumer electronic products, it said, adding that Taiwanese are tech-savvy and love to share photographs of Japanese food, shopping scenes and scenic spots on social media.
Tokyo Tower is the most frequent “check-in” spot on their Facebook posts, followed by Tokyo Disneyland and the Tokyo Skytree, Visa said.
Visa launched its Travel Intentions Survey in 2004 to monitor and analyze global travel trends and behavior.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure