Taiwan’s hotel room rates are too high, but when the government subsidized the domestic travel industry, some hotel owners increased room prices, leading people to prefer travel abroad to excursions in Taiwan.
Moreover, the number of Japanese visiting Taiwan is not as high as expected.
Data released by the Tourism Administration showed that while the number of Japanese visiting Taiwan has reached 50 percent of pre-COVID-19 pandemic figures, those traveling to South Korea and Southeast Asia have surpassed 80 percent.
Japanese visit South Korea because of the proximity of the two countries, while they visit Vietnam and Thailand because travel in those nations is cheap and the sightseeing spots are relatively new to them, some academics say.
This indicates that Japanese tourists are quite sensitive to price differences after the pandemic.
Domestic travel in Taiwan has been declining because of an unsatisfactory ration of cost to performance.
A good hotel room costs at least NT$5,000 to NT$6,000 a night, a better one is about NT$10,000 and a high-end one would be NT$20,000 to NT$30,000.
Meanwhile, a night at a five-star hotel in Shinjuku in Tokyo costs the equivalent of about NT$6,000, while a standard room is NT$3,000 to NT$4,000, meaning Taiwan’s hotel room rates are 60 percent to 100 percent more expensive than in Japan.
How can the country expect to attract foreign tourists?
If the occupancy rates of the nation’s hotels is to be increased, service standards must improve, and, more importantly, better deals are needed for clean, comfortable rooms.
Given that Taiwan is still among the top three overseas destinations for Japanese, the nation must develop more ways to attract them.
It should focus on people aged 50 or older, as they are better-off, usually have more leisure time and many have not been to Taiwan.
There should be a focus on places in Taiwan that have links to Japanese history, culture and art, as such visitors would want to experience how their nation’s past is intertwined with Taiwan’s present.
Taiwan’s old Japanese buildings would fit the bill.
Taiwan should promote such attractions in ways that are most familiar to the target groups and welcome such visitors as valued guests.
This would boost the nation’s hospitality industry for years to come.
Dino Wei is an information engineer.
Translated by Emma Liu
Congratulations to China’s working class — they have officially entered the “Livestock Feed 2.0” era. While others are still researching how to achieve healthy and balanced diets, China has already evolved to the point where it does not matter whether you are actually eating food, as long as you can swallow it. There is no need for cooking, chewing or making decisions — just tear open a package, add some hot water and in a short three minutes you have something that can keep you alive for at least another six hours. This is not science fiction — it is reality.
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
In a world increasingly defined by unpredictability, two actors stand out as islands of stability: Europe and Taiwan. One, a sprawling union of democracies, but under immense pressure, grappling with a geopolitical reality it was not originally designed for. The other, a vibrant, resilient democracy thriving as a technological global leader, but living under a growing existential threat. In response to rising uncertainties, they are both seeking resilience and learning to better position themselves. It is now time they recognize each other not just as partners of convenience, but as strategic and indispensable lifelines. The US, long seen as the anchor
Kinmen County’s political geography is provocative in and of itself. A pair of islets running up abreast the Chinese mainland, just 20 minutes by ferry from the Chinese city of Xiamen, Kinmen remains under the Taiwanese government’s control, after China’s failed invasion attempt in 1949. The provocative nature of Kinmen’s existence, along with the Matsu Islands off the coast of China’s Fuzhou City, has led to no shortage of outrageous takes and analyses in foreign media either fearmongering of a Chinese invasion or using these accidents of history to somehow understand Taiwan. Every few months a foreign reporter goes to
RSS