Radium Life Tech Co (日勝生活科技), contractor in a build-operate-transfer (BOT) land development project adjacent to Taipei Main Station, yesterday signed a contract with Chinatrust Hotels Ltd (中信觀光開發), which is slated to open a five-star hotel on the site at the end of 2008.
Chinatrust Hotels, which currently runs a network of 13 hotels in Taiwan and two hotels in China, plans to pump NT$500 million (US$15.67 million) into the 8,000-ping top-class hotel project, John Huang (黃炳彰), chairman of Chinatrust Hotels, said at a ceremony yesterday.
The hotel will contain over 300 rooms, a banquet room that will accommodate up to 600 guests, restaurants and a business center, Huang added.
Chinatrust Hotels gained the rights to open the hotel after beating Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華), Ambassador Hotel Ltd (國賓) and other overseas bidders. According to the BOT contract, Chinatrust will be allowed to operate the hotel for 20 years.
"The best selling point of the hotel is the superior location. It's very convenient for tourists," Huang said.
Transportation hub
The venue is located at the crossroads of Civic Boulevard and Chengde Road, just north of Taipei Main Station, the capital's transportation hub, with frequent buses, trains, the mass rapid transportation (MRT) system and the soon-to-be finished high-speed railway that will be able to take tourists from the main station to every corner of the city, or to destinations throughout Taiwan, Huang said.
Furthermore, a planned MRT project linking the Chiang-Kai-Shek International Airport with Taipei Main Station, which is expected to see completion by 2012, could further bring tourists directly to or from the airport, Huang added.
Jason Lin (林志盈), the transportation commissioner of Taipei City who attended the ceremony, said that more hotels will be needed in Taipei as the government may soon allow Chinese tourists to visit the nation. The government announced in late July the easing of travel restrictions for people across the Taiwan Strait, a policy that many in the industry have said could help lift the hospitality sector's falling occupancy rates due to a dwindling number of inbound tourists over the past few years.
Sean Chuang (莊秀石), chairman of the International Tourist Hotels Association of Taipei (台北市觀光旅館公會), told the Taipei Times on July 29 in an interview that the number of Chinese tourists may add an extra 10 percent to 15 percent to the current occupancy rate of 67 percent in Taipei City, which has dropped from over 70 percent four or five years ago.
An average occupancy rate exceeding 75 percent would require the city to build more hotels to accommodate the rise in demand, according to Chuang.
In addition to the hotel project, Radium plans to add residence houses, shopping malls and office buildings on the 2.3-hectare piece of land, which is jointly owned by the Taiwan Railway Administration and the Taipei City Government, said Lin Jung-hsien (林榮顯), the chairman of Radium.
Radium plans to invest NT$12 billion in the BOT project and started construction in June, which is estimated to finish by the end of 2008, Lin said.
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