Taipei 101, the nation’s tallest skyscraper and a major tourist attraction, is seeking new revenue sources this year as the number of Chinese tourists declines.
Chou Te-yu (周德宇), chairman of Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓), which runs the Taipei 101 building, last week said that the company has launched a series of initiatives since 2015 in a bid to broaden revenue sources and offset the fall in Chinese tourist numbers, who visit the high rise’s Observatory, which overlooks the capital.
Chou said that such initiatives include launching a cafe business and cooperative ventures with skyscrapers in other nations, which might start to pay off in the third or fourth quarter of this year.
Photo: EPA
According to Taipei 101, the number of Chinese tourists visiting the Observatory in the first two months of this year fell 52 percent from a year earlier to 145,000, while the total number of visitors to the skyscraper fell 24 percent to 372,000 during the same period.
The number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan dropped to 3.51 million last year from 4.18 million in 2015, and the figure could fall to about 2.1 million this year, market watchers said.
Taipei 101 launched its own 101 Cafe brand at the beginning of the year and is looking to open branches nationwide, Chou said.
The skyscraper has also signed agreements with landmark buildings or resorts in other countries to promote bilateral tourism, he said.
Taipei 101 recently inked an accord with Japan’s tallest building, the 300m-tall Abeno Harukas in Osaka, and the two company’s will host a series of joint tourism activities later this year, Chou said.
Last month, Taipei 101 signed a cooperation agreement with Lotte World Tower, the tallest building in South Korea, to forge closer business ties.
Similar accords were inked with the Tokyo Skytree in 2013 and Tobu World Square, a renowned tourist destination in eastern Japan, in 2015.
Chou said the company is targeting Tokyo Tower for its next alliance.
Last year, Taipei 101 was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification for international “green” building in the Operation and Maintenance of an Existing Building, after receiving a similar award in 2011.
Chou said the LEED certifications have encouraged other building owners in the nation to build using energy-efficient methods, and related consulting services are expected to bring in more revenue.
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