Shares in the local tourism sector yesterday jumped 3.98 percent, outperforming the TAIEX’s 0.53 percent increase, after China voiced more interest in resuming cross-strait tourist exchanges in Shanghai and Fujian Province.
The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism yesterday morning wrote on its Web site that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait should step up communication, and provide high-quality travel services and products for people.
China is making preparations and would in the near future allow residents of Fujian and Shanghai to go on group tours to Taiwan, in line with the bid to normalize cross-strait tourism and facilitate exchanges in other fields, it said.
Photo courtesy of Taoyuan International Airport Corp
The easing is intended to meet the desires of Taiwanese and the travel industry, it added.
In Taipei, Tourism Administration Director-General Chou Yung-hui (周永暉) painted China’s rhetoric as positive for cross-strait tourist exchanges, adding that Taiwan is ready for further communication and policy relaxation.
Shares in Formosa International Hotels Corp (晶華國際酒店集團) yesterday closed up 5.79 percent at NT$192 on expectations that the nation’s largest hospitality service provider would benefit from the normalization of tourist exchanges.
The conglomerate operates hotels including Regent Taipei (台北晶華酒店), Silks Place (晶英酒店), Just Sleep (捷絲旅) and Wellspring by Silks (晶泉丰旅). It reported NT$6.3 billion (US$191.34 million) in revenue for last year, down 6.91 percent from a year earlier, as its Silks Place Taroko (太魯閣晶英酒店) took a hard hit from the massive earthquake in Hualien in April last year.
The group said excluding losses related to the Silks Place Taroko’s temporary suspension, it would have posted a small 0.74 percent gain in revenue.
Shares in another Taiwanese hotel and restaurant operator, FDC International Hotels Corp (雲品國際), spiked by 10 percent to NT$60.5. The conglomerate owns the resort Fleur de Chine Hotel (雲品溫泉酒店) in Nantou County’s Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), a must-see spot for foreign tourists.
The firm’s revenue rose 3.55 percent last year from a year earlier to NT$2.44 billion. It is also expanding its business at home and abroad.
Leofoo Tourism Group (六福旅遊集團), which operates the Courtyard by Marriott Taipei (六福萬怡) in Taipei’s Nangang District (南港) and Leofoo Village Theme Park (六福村) in Hsinchu County, said it welcomed the arrival of Chinese tourists. Shares in the conglomerate yesterday climbed 6.94 percent to NT$18.5, after the company earlier posted a 4.42 percent increase in its revenue to NT$2.31 billion for last year.
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