Shining Group (鄉林集團) said it is looking to set up a second holiday resort in Taiwan, while it expects business to improve in China after the country relaxed COVID-19 curbs.
The Taichung-based conglomerate — whose business interests span property development and operating luxury hotels, including The Lalu (涵碧樓) in Nantou County and resorts of the same name in China — intends to set up a hotel in Yunlin County with the same business concept as the Nantou facility, Shining chairman Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰) told a media briefing in Taipei on Wednesday.
The resort near Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) posted robust occupancy rates and kept its prices stable during the COVID-19 pandemic, profiting from health and wellness trends, he said.
Photo: Hsu Yi-ping, Taipei Times
Sales at its The Lalu hotels in China’s Qingdao and Nanjing recovered quickly after Beijing abandoned its “zero COVID-19” policy last month, Lai said, adding that the two facilities are fully booked over the Lunar New Year holiday.
Lai said the group’s hospitality revenue might this year return to the pre-pandemic levels.
Unique resort facilities in Taiwan have proved popular and profitable despite their less convenient locations, Shining manager Liu An-kang (劉安康) said, citing The Bal’s Villas (牛眠埔里) in Nantou County as an example.
The group has also tapped into the property management business by leasing unsold apartments in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) to health and beauty service providers to generate rental income, Liu said.
Shining Building Business Co (鄉林建設), the group’s main arm, would continue to focus on urban renewal and joint development projects despite unfavorable laws that ban transfers of presale property and require legal entities to obtain permission before starting real-estate ventures, he said.
The legal revisions would scare away property investors and small developers, as home buyers would have to hold on to their properties for a long time to avoid punitive taxes, he added.
The ban on transfers of presale property could discourage urban renewal projects, as cash-stressed owners would not be allowed to find successors or partners after seeking in vain to integrate participants, Lai said.
It is time-consuming to bring all owners of land plots and old houses on board for urban renewal projects, he said, adding that initiators of such projects frequently bow out to cut losses.
The unfavorable legislation and economic uncertainty might cause presale property sales to shrink to NT$1.6 trillion (US$52.53 billion) this year, from NT$2 trillion last year, Lai said.
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