Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Co (TTIA) yesterday said that it is planning to build capsule hotels at the airport to target the growing number of transit passengers.
The TTIA said that the airport, which aims to build capsule hotels in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal One and Terminal Two, has entrusted a professional advisory firm to evaluate the plan.
The firm will assess the demand for such accommodation facilities, the size of the hotels and rates.
The company said that the two planned capsule hotels are scheduled to become operational next year at the earliest.
Capsule hotels, which originated in Japan, feature a large number of extremely small sleeping spaces, which look like coffins.
The space only allows a guest to lie down, but the low cost of such accommodation is attractive for people who do not need the services offered by conventional hotels.
The plan comes as the number of transit passengers at Taoyuan airport surpassed 2.1 million last year, up from 2.09 million a year earlier.
Since Taiwan is expected to allow transits by Chinese travelers in the future, the number of transit passengers is expected to grow further, the TTIA said.
According to an estimate made by the Civil Aeronautics Administration, once Chinese travelers are allowed to make stopovers in Taiwan, the number of transit passengers is expected to rise by about 1 million a year and most of them will go through Taoyuan airport.
The TTIA said that the two capsule hotels are expected to attract no less than 200,000 guests a year.
Currently, Taoyuan airport has a transit hotel in Terminal Two, but because the hotel has only 22 rooms, the economies of scale are too small and the facility fails to meet demand, the TTIA said.
Meanwhile, the TTIA said that Taoyuan airport will tighten security by adding new X-ray machines. By the end of June, the number of security check lines in Terminal One will rise from the current four to six, and the number in Terminal Two is set to rise from five to eight, while the number in the transit areas will rise from nine to 14.
Last year, the number of travelers passing through the airport increased by an annual 11.15 percent to about 35.8 million, reaching a new record.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all