The Taipei 101 shopping mall last month saw its business return to positive territory, thanks to a sharp increase in the number of domestic shoppers as well as the government-issued Triple Stimulus Vouchers.
Revenue picked up mildly last month, reversing months of decline, after Taiwanese regained confidence about shopping, the mall said on Tuesday.
Foreign tourists accounted for 30 percent of the mall’s revenue as COVID-19-related border controls wreaked havoc on its operations, it said.
Photo: Bloomberg / I-Hwa Cheng
The mall is one of the three main revenue sources for Taipei Financial Center Corp (台北金融大樓, TFCC), the operator of Taipei 101, together with admission fees to the observatory and the observation deck, as well as rental income from its office spaces.
Apart from recovered confidence, a jewel exhibition and the vouchers helped motivate shoppers, the mall said.
The World Masterpiece show last month helped boost expensive jewel and watch sales 40 percent from the same period last year, with one particular brand reporting more than twofold revenue growth, the mall said.
The shopping momentum might sustain this month, as affluent Taiwanese who are used to spending their summer vacation abroad would spend their time in the nation, it said.
Taiwan Ratings (中華信評), the local arm of S&P Global Ratings and a Taipei 101 tenant, had earlier downgraded its credit outlook for TFCC from “stable” to “negative,” citing concerns over a slump in tourists and shoppers.
Retail sales at the mall are forecast to drop by 31 to 35 percent this year as luxury and fashion consumption is discretionary and therefore vulnerable to economic shocks, it said.
The lack of foreign tourists would also curb observatory revenue, but rental income remains resilient amid stable leasing demand and rental rates, it added.
Separately, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said that 20.54 million people, or about 85 percent of the 24 million Taiwanese and foreign spouses eligible to receive the vouchers, had claimed their vouchers as of Tuesday.
Local businesses had redeemed NT$1.34 billion of stimulus vouchers for cash from banks as of Monday, the ministry said in a Facebook post.
Additional reporting by Angelica Oung
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