With most businesses in Taiwan facing a serious revenue slump, the capital’s nightlife has apparently bucked the trend and remains as busy as ever, management at several Taipei nightclubs said.
“We have not seen an impact from the economic downturn on our business as it has in other [sectors],” said Moon Feng, supervisor of the Marketing and Promotion Department of Room 18, one of the most popular night spots in Taipei.
Feng said the number of patrons had remained steady, with turnout averaging 1,500 every open night.
Other indicators such as frequency of visits and nightly expenditures on food and drink have also remained steady, she said, and Christmas could be even stronger than in past years.
With the pub’s 25 private rooms completely booked and various promotions offered to coincide with the holiday, “we are confident that more than 2,000 people will attend our holiday event,” Feng said.
“People probably want even more to seize the opportunity provided by the holidays to have fun and be merry [even] when the economy is not doing so well,” she said.
Meanwhile, Joanna Su, marketing manager of LOOP Production, which owns Luxy, another popular venue in downtown Taipei, said her club had also been relatively immune to the impact of the sluggish economy.
The club’s advanced sales for its Christmas Eve festivities have been strong, she said, with pre-sold tickets to its three ballrooms nearly all gone.
With free drinks offered before 11pm as well as the planned appearance of a popular local singer, Su said she hoped attendance tonight would also exceed 2,000.
Taipei-based Primo said the club had not suffered from a drop in consumer spending. In fact, business has boomed.
Primo project planner Manson Yu said the club, which caters to upscale customers such as celebrities and entrepreneurs, saw business double in the past month compared to February, when it opened.
With privacy a major concern for most of his patrons, Yu said that “exquisite attention to service” played a pivotal role in gaining customer trust and loyalty.
For example, each new club employee must sign a “privacy clause” that forbids them to leak the identities of club guests. At the same time, Primo has 20 security guards covering an area of less than 660m².
The club has also cultivated repeat business through its membership system, Yu said.
“We know what a customer’s favorite drink is and we will also offer to throw him or her a birthday party when that special day arrives,” Yu said.
Thirty-five earthquakes have exceeded 5.5 on the Richter scale so far this year, the most in 14 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said on Facebook on Thursday. A large earthquake in Hualien County on April 3 released five times as much the energy as the 921 Earthquake on Sept. 21, 1999, the agency said in its latest earthquake report for this year. Hualien County has had the most national earthquake alerts so far this year at 64, with Yilan County second with 23 and Changhua County third with nine, the agency said. The April 3 earthquake was what caused the increase in
INTIMIDATION: In addition to the likely military drills near Taiwan, China has also been waging a disinformation campaign to sow division between Taiwan and the US Beijing is poised to encircle Taiwan proper in military exercise “Joint Sword-2024C,” starting today or tomorrow, as President William Lai (賴清德) returns from his visit to diplomatic allies in the Pacific, a national security official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said that multiple intelligence sources showed that China is “highly likely” to launch new drills around Taiwan. Although the drills’ scale is unknown, there is little doubt that they are part of the military activities China initiated before Lai’s departure, they said. Beijing at the same time is conducting information warfare by fanning skepticism of the US and
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is unlikely to attempt an invasion of Taiwan during US president-elect Donald Trump’s time in office, Taiwanese and foreign academics said on Friday. Trump is set to begin his second term early next year. Xi’s ambition to establish China as a “true world power” has intensified over the years, but he would not initiate an invasion of Taiwan “in the near future,” as his top priority is to maintain the regime and his power, not unification, Tokyo Woman’s Christian University distinguished visiting professor and contemporary Chinese politics expert Akio Takahara said. Takahara made the comment at a
DEFENSE: This month’s shipment of 38 modern M1A2T tanks would begin to replace the US-made M60A3 and indigenous CM11 tanks, whose designs date to the 1980s The M1A2T tanks that Taiwan expects to take delivery of later this month are to spark a “qualitative leap” in the operational capabilities of the nation’s armored forces, a retired general told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) in an interview published yesterday. On Tuesday, the army in a statement said it anticipates receiving the first batch of 38 M1A2T Abrams main battle tanks from the US, out of 108 tanks ordered, in the coming weeks. The M1 Abrams main battle tank is a generation ahead of the Taiwanese army’s US-made M60A3 and indigenously developed CM11 tanks, which have
RSS