Taipei’s hotels are increasingly eyeing the business opportunities brought by gay consumers and tourists as an untapped source of revenue, hoteliers said.
The nation’s gay-friendly image has been burnished by internationally high-profile events, such as the Council of Grand Justices’ constitutional ruling in favor of marriage equality in May and the annual Taipei Pride Parade, the latest of which was held on Saturday, they said.
The parade attracted more than 123,000 participants, including visitors from other Asian countries, and many hotels were filled to near-capacity, they said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Dubbed the “pink economy,” lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) consumers are considered to be more willing to spend on leisure activities and recreation, a phenomenon partly related to being freed from the economic burdens of child-rearing, they said.
Check Inn marketing manger Peng Hui-chen (彭慧甄) said her hotel had an entire floor of rainbow-themed rooms to celebrate the parade, which attracted both gay people and gay-rights supporters.
“We were fully booked over the weekend,” she said.
The W Hotel in Taipei had offered gay guests preferential rates from 2012 to last year and said it donated part of the proceeds from those rooms to the Taiwan LGBT Hotline Association.
Although the hotel did not offer preferential rates this year, it reported an occupancy rate of nearly 90 percent for last month, after sponsoring gay rights conferences and hosting a same-sex wedding exhibition.
The Mandarin Oriental Taipei issued a statement of support for the Pride Parade and offered preferential rates for gay travelers.
It was reportedly fully booked last week.
“The constitutional interpretation has put Taiwan on the world map in terms of marriage equality,” Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁) said on Sunday in a Facebook post.
“Pride Parade week saw many activities. Taipei’s major hotels were full, and the department stores and restaurants experienced high consumer volumes. This proved the beneficial effects of the rainbow economy,” Chen said.
For venues in the West Gate Red House — a popular location of Taipei’s gay scene — sales volume had doubled or tripled, a shop owner said.
At least 10 after-parade events were held over the weekend, with the three biggest events of Formosa Pride 2017, Woow and C.U.M each attracting more than 10,000 revelers.
Next month, a cruise liner is expected to ferry gay tourists from Taiwan to Japan, Lin said.
Shih Shin University associate professor of tourism Chen Jiayu (陳家瑜) said the government and the private sector should give more attention to developing and reaching out to the LGBT consumer market.
A gay man from Singapore, who identified himself only as Jeff, said he found Taiwan’s friendliness appealing.
Many LGBT people made plans to travel to Taipei’s Pride Parade as a show of support for the first nation in Asia to issue a constitutional ruling in favor of marriage equality, a parade participant who identified himself as Jay said.
Some made up their minds to take part in this year’s parade immediately after the grand justices’ ruling was issued in May or the following month, he added.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it