With Christmas here and the New Year just around the corner, the economic slowdown seems to have had little effect on the holiday spirit as sales have been booming for hotel countdown parties and stay packages.
Taipei City has been adorned with all kinds of iridescent decorations and a festive atmosphere has reigned in every spot.
Like many other big cites around the world, Taipei City has plenty of live entertainment, champagne toasts and party favors to enjoy during the festive season.
Every five star hotel is having special Christmas and New Year's Eve packages and bashes.
Thanks to the scheduled fireworks display at Taipei 101 to bring in 2008, hotels with rooms facing Taipei 101 were fully booked as early as September, while the occupancy rate for other rooms in these hotels has also increased to 80 percent to 90 percent.
The Grand Hyatt Taipei, located right next to Taipei 101, has 200 "fireworks rooms."
These rooms were fully booked for Dec. 31 three months ago, and 98 percent of the hotel's 856 rooms have been booked for New Year's Eve.
Starting with specially selected seasonal cuisine on its Christmas menu and culminating in the grand finale on New Year's Eve, the Grand Hyatt Taipei is presenting a countdown party, dubbed "The Hanging Garden," on the theme of the illumination of the sky and an array of colorful flowers, magical fruit balls and gigantic hanging vegetable centerpieces to represent the four seasons.
Although at NT$6,288, with a 10-percent service charge per person, the price for attending the party is not cheap. But 80 percent of the tickets have already been sold.
The hotel's marketing communication manager, Luanne Li (
May Hu, assistant communications manager at the Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel Taipei, said that business was booming for the holidays, adding that business for the whole year has been good at the hotel, which targets foreign businesspeople.
The Shangri-La Far Eastern's rooms from which the fireworks display can be seen are also all booked, she said, adding that the hotel would give two free tickets each worth NT$2,800 to guests in the other rooms to attend its New Year's Eve countdown party by its swimming pool on the 43rd floor.
For people who want to see something new, the Venetian Carnival Masked Masquerade at the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei and the musical performance at the Grand Howard Plaza Hotel, in which guests can sway elegantly to romantic melodies, savor the exquisiteness of Italian cuisine, and marvel at the wonderful circus acts, live band performances and outstanding DJs, gets everyone excited, a hotel representative said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by