Leofoo Tourism Group (六福旅遊集團) is seeking to restructure its finances this year in the hope of returning to profit next year, top executives said yesterday.
“There are some unfortunate tidings about the group this year due to ongoing portfolio adjustments, which could help us start anew next year,” chief operating officer Lulu Chuang (莊豐如) said.
The group, which operates the Westin Taipei (台北威斯汀六福皇宮), the Courtyard by Marriott Taipei (六福萬怡), Leofoo Hotel (六福客棧), Leofoo Resort (六福莊), Leofoo Village Theme Park (六福村) and other recreational facilities, recently terminated a contract to build a five-star resort hotel in Tainan.
The decision is to cost the firm NT$66.31 million (US$2.28 million) in guarantee deposit and put an end to a partnership with Nan Shan Life Insurance Co (南山人壽) to turn part of its mixed-use complex into a 350-room hotel.
The group inked a deal with the insurer in 2014 to operate the new facility under the Leofoo Resort brand, allowing it to tap into the city-resort market in 2020.
Leofoo remains positive about Taiwan’s tourism industry in the long run, but prefers a cautious approach for the time being, the group said, adding that the venture in Tainan would require more than NT$1 billion to complete.
“Policy uncertainty and other risks merit reconsideration,” Chuang said.
The number of business travelers have declined 20 percent over the past decade, while inbound tourism stagnates, said Chuang, who attributed it to a lack of important trade shows, meetings, conferences and exhibitions in Taiwan.
Authorities can lend support by asking government agencies to help promote Taiwan and create a task force to oversee the progress, she said.
While the government’s New Southbound Policy helps draw tourists from Southeast Asian nations, their contribution is not conspicuous or stable yet, she said.
Leofoo posted losses of NT$348.66 million for the first three quarters of last year and is unlikely to swing to profit any time soon, but Chuang said the group is looking at active growth in core businesses that remain profitable.
Food and beverage accounted for 44.04 percent of overall revenue, while guestrooms and the theme park business contributed 33.73 percent and 15.48 percent respectively, company data showed.
Leofoo said it is seeking a legal remedy for a bad check worth NT$17.64 million that FX Hotels Group Inc (富驛酒店集團) failed to honor as part of a deal in 2015 to buy a resort property in Pingtung’s Kenting for NT$900 million.
The group on Thursday dismissed board director Lai Chen-jung (賴振融) for breaking securities transaction rules.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last