“Quarantine hotels” being used for arrivals from overseas undergoing mandatory 14-day self-isolation have experienced an upsurge in room reservations as students studying overseas have started returning to Taiwan for the summer.
Occupancy rates at quarantine hotels this month are at about 55 percent nationwide, while they are at about 70 percent in Taipei, Tourism Bureau data showed.
The Central Epidemic Command Center requires arrivals from overseas to self-isolate for 14 days due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the Tourism Bureau has encouraged hotels to provide this service for Taiwanese returnees and foreign visitors.
About 150 hotels and lodging houses with a total of about 9,500 rooms began accommodating people self-isolating in March, with the occupancy rate rising from about 30 percent in April to about 55 percent this month.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications officials said that the occupancy rate for hotels in Taipei is about 70 percent, higher than other cities and counties, because it is easier for those returning to reserve rooms online in the capital.
Hotels in New Taipei City and elsewhere only accept reservations by telephone or online links, officials said, and many people feel that this is inconvenient and they choose to reserve a hotel in the capital instead.
Information and transparency about quarantine hotels varies widely, with the Taipei City Government providing an online list of 35 hotels, while other city governments do not have such a list.
Employees at Just Sleep Taipei Linsen Hotel (捷絲旅林森館) said that room reservations picked up as more Taiwanese started returning from overseas last month, while Taiwanese studying overseas started to return this month.
They expect the occupancy rate to go up to 95 percent be the end of this month, as it was at more than 80 percent in May and last month.
Hanns House (瀚寓酒店) in Taipei was the first hotel to advertise a self-isolation service.
“At the start, we had large numbers of overseas students returning to Taiwan,” hotel employees said. “We were full for most of March and since then have maintained a 50 percent occupancy rate.”
“After the regulations for business visitors entering Taiwan were loosened last month, and now that students are returning for the summer, we now have an occupancy rate of about 90 percent,” they said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
RSS