Landis Taipei Hotel (台北亞都麗緻飯店), the flagship property of Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團), has reported a significant pickup in room and restaurant revenues, although continuing border controls limited the scale of recovery.
“Business would grow nearly twofold this and next month, from the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in February and March, when foreign travelers abruptly dropped to zero and domestic tourists stayed home for fear of infections,” communications official Tracy Lee (李明穎) said by telephone yesterday.
Occupancy rates averaged 80 percent so far in the summer, recovering from 20 to 30 percent at the 41-year-old facility on Minquan E Road, one of Taiwan’s first five-star facilities, Lee said.
Taiwan’s quick control of the novel coronavirus outbreak, and assorted promotions and discount offers helped restore interest in domestic travel while the nation continues to keep foreign travelers out, Lee said.
The authorities have extended a ban on inbound and outbound travel until the end of next month due to soaring infections in most parts of the world.
Revenue from food and beverage sales almost recovered to pre-pandemic levels, after holding relatively resilient during the outbreak, Lee said.
The virus crisis has had a limited effect on Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant Tien Hsiang Lo (天香樓), fine-dining Paris 1930 (巴黎廳) and more affordable La Brasserie (巴賽麗廳), thanks to their gastronomic credentials, Lee added.
Particularly, Tien Hsiang Lo, which has won one-star Michelin recognition for two consecutive years, has been popular among gourmets, she said.
Despite the improvement, revenue declines are inevitable, as border controls are set to stay in pace for a while, Lee said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) last week said that he is seeking to extend wage subsidies by another three to six months for hotels that rely heavily on foreign travelers.
Lin asked domestic travelers to patronize star-grade facilities in northern Taiwan in the meantime.
A package featuring room rates of NT$3,999 per night with equivalent gift vouchers has proven to be most popular among clients, Lee said.
The group would maintain a conservative business approach after shutting down Landis Taichung in March and the Tayih Landis Hotel Tainan (台南大億麗緻酒店) last month, she said.
Pause Landis Resorts (璞石麗緻溫泉會館) in New Taipei City’s Wulai District (烏來) is undergoing renovation, she added.
The group has not discussed whether to further downsize after summer, Lee said.
Industry leaders have said that many hotels in Taipei could exit the market if recovery remained elusive.
The DBS Foundation yesterday announced the launch of two flagship programs, “Silver Motion” and “Happier Caregiver, Healthier Seniors,” in partnership with CCILU Ltd, Hondao Senior Citizens’ Welfare Foundation and the Garden of Hope Foundation to help Taiwan face the challenges of a rapidly aging population. The foundation said it would invest S$4.91 million (US$3.8 million) over three years to foster inclusion and resilience in an aging society. “Aging may bring challenges, but it also brings opportunities. With many Asian markets rapidly becoming super-aged, the DBS Foundation is working with a regional ecosystem of like-minded partners across the private, public and people sectors
BREAKTHROUGH TECH: Powertech expects its fan-out PLP system to become mainstream, saying it can offer three-times greater production throughput Chip packaging service provider Powertech Technology Inc (力成科技) plans to more than double its capital expenditures next year to more than NT$40 billion (US$1.31 billion) as demand for its new panel-level packaging (PLP) technology, primarily used in chips for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, has greatly exceeded what it can supply. A significant portion of the budget, about US$1 billion, would be earmarked for fan-out PLP technology, Powertech told investors yesterday. Its heavy investment in fan-out PLP technology over the past 10 years is expected to bear fruit in 2027 after the technology enters volume production, it said, adding that the tech would
YEAR-END BOOST: The holiday shopping season in the US and Europe, combined with rising demand for AI applications, is expected to drive exports to a new high, the NDC said Taiwan’s business climate monitor improved last month, transitioning from steady growth for the first time in five months, as robust global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) products and new iPhone shipments boosted exports and corporate sales, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. The council uses a five-color system to measure the nation’s economic state, with “green” indicating steady growth, “red” suggesting a boom and “blue” reflecting a recession. “Yellow-red” and “yellow-blue” suggest a transition to a stronger or weaker condition. The total score of the monitor’s composite index rose to 35 points from a revised 31 in August, ending a four-month
RUN IT BACK: A succesful first project working with hyperscalers to design chips encouraged MediaTek to start a second project, aiming to hit stride in 2028 MediaTek Inc (聯發科), the world’s biggest smartphone chip supplier, yesterday said it is engaging a second hyperscaler to help design artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators used in data centers following a similar project expected to generate revenue streams soon. The first AI accelerator project is to bring in US$1 billion revenue next year and several billion US dollars more in 2027, MediaTek chief executive officer Rick Tsai (蔡力行) told a virtual investor conference yesterday. The second AI accelerator project is expected to contribute to revenue beginning in 2028, Tsai said. MediaTek yesterday raised its revenue forecast for the global AI accelerator used
RSS