Philippine officials sought to attract Taiwanese investment to the Southeast Asian nation’s tourism sector at the two-day Philippine Tourism Investment Forum, which ended on Friday in Taipei, as overall Taiwanese investment has fallen in the countries covered by the New Southbound Policy.
Taiwanese investment in the Philippines peaked in 2015 at US$644 million, but fell 76 percent to US$149 million last year, even though the number of investments has risen fivefold.
Taiwanese investments in the 18 countries covered by the policy fell 38 percent last year. Investments in those countries reached US$3.5 billion in 2015, but fell to US$2.1 billion last year, despite the number of investments more than doubling.
Officials at the forum nonetheless touted the investment opportunities in the Philippines’ tourism and tourism infrastructure sector to about 120 Taiwanese conglomerates and business leaders.
The forum was organized by the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei to promote Taiwanese investment, development and partnership opportunities in the Philippine tourism, hospitality and entertainment sectors, and to boost Taiwan’s presence in the industry, the office said.
It was the first time that the office held such a meeting in Taiwan.
MECO Chairman Angelito Banayo highlighted the opportunities that are being offered to potential investors by the Philippine Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, a government agency tasked with developing and promoting tourism projects, it said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in April signed a law granting the authority extended powers to offer incentives for tourism enterprises located in designated tourism enterprise zones.
The incentives include income tax holidays of up to six years, 5 percent preferential taxes on gross income, and tax exemptions on the importation of capital and transportation of equipment until 2029, among others, the office said.
The Philippines, Taiwan’s closest New Southbound Policy partner, had the highest growth in tourists from Taiwan at 55.42 percent in June and 30.6 percent in the January-to-June period, compared with the same period last year, the office said, citing Taiwanese government data.
The forum invited Simon Su (蘇國芳), chairman and CEO of the Taiwanese MSK Group, which in 2017 began to invest in what is expected to be a US$2 billion project to develop a luxury resort complex in Subic Bay, to share the company’s experience in the Philippines.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai