Michael Jordan, who's scheduled to swing through Asia this month on a promotional tour sponsored by Nike Inc, is competing for a hotel room with the presidents of 15 countries on the Taiwanese leg of his trip.
Jordan is having a tough time booking a presidential suite at Taipei's five-star hotels because he is arriving on the week of President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) inauguration.
Scores of dignitaries, including heads of state from El Salvador, Nicaragua and other countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan, will attend the May 20 ceremony.
Jordan, 41, is arriving a day later to tout Nike's premium Jordan brand of footwear, apparel and accessories during a tour that includes stops in Beijing, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
"I am counting on some of the heads of state checking out of their rooms by then," said Jeanne Huang (黃湘燕), director of marketing for Nike Taiwan.
"I don't know what I'll do if they choose a late checkout," she said.
The Asia-Pacific region is Nike's third-largest source of revenue and No. 1 manufacturing base. The company, the world's biggest maker of athletic footwear, reported that sales in Asia rose 21 percent in the fiscal third quarter ending Feb. 29.
In Taiwan, Nike's sales are growing 5 percent to 10 percent per year, said Huang, who declined to provide a figure.
Jordan, a five-time Most Valuable Player and former Chicago Bulls star, will stay 24 hours in Taipei before leaving on May 23.
In Taipei, he will hold a news conference, meet fans at Nike Taiwan's headquarters and unveil the company's fall and winter product lines.
Jordan, who retired from basketball last year, led the Bulls to six championships during the 1990s and became the most popular athlete in the US. He did commercials for athletic shoes, underwear and sports drinks and also appeared in several movies. His appeal among teenagers and sports fans did little to sway the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from loosening its hold on some of the city's top hotel suites.
"We have 15 heads of state coming," ministry spokesman Richard Shih (
Jordan is worth about US$400 million, the BBC said. That's about four times greater than the 2002 GDP for the Marshall Islands, whose president, Kessai Note, is attending the inauguration.
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