Golden China Hotel (康華大飯店) in Taipei’s Zhongshan District (中山) has temporarily shut down operations to cope with a sharp decline in business amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 215-room hotel near Xingtian Temple (行天宮) has suspended reservation services for this month and next month, and is to take advantage of the slow season to do maintenance, the Chinese-language United Daily News reported.
The news came as little surprise given that the sector is bearing the brunt of pandemic restrictions alongside travel agencies, retailers and transportation service providers.
Golden China said that it has not set a timetable for reopening and is waiting to see how long the market would be affected by pandemic response measures.
Although Taiwan as of yesterday had not reported new infections for 11 days, authorities have no intention of lifting travel restrictions on foreign tourists any time soon, as the outbreak remains serious in most other parts of the world.
As of yesterday, the virus has sickened more than 4.7 million people globally, with more than 315,000 deaths.
Hotels in Taipei are harder hit than properties in tourism resorts due to their heavy exposure to international visitors on business and sight-seeing trips.
Facilities that stay open are offering large discounts on room rates, and have added food delivery and takeout services to mitigate losses.
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