With consumption on the rise in the post COVID-19 era, the thirst for overseas travel among Taiwanese seems to have returned to pre-pandemic levels judging by visitor numbers to this year’s Taipei International Travel Fair.
The show, the largest travel exhibition in Taiwan targeted at consumers, ended on Monday, drawing 344,475 visitors during its four-day run, about 90 percent of the level in 2019, the last year before the pandemic upended global travel.
The visitor numbers were also 76 percent higher than last year, when travel in Asia was just starting to recover as COVID-19 border restrictions were being lifted, show organizer the Taiwan Visitors Association said.
Photo: CNA
Along with online sales, several hotels and travel agencies generated more than NT$100 million (US$3.11 million) in sales during the travel show as consumers eagerly purchased tour packages, the organizer said.
Because of the better-than-expected revenue rung up by many exhibitors at the show, the association expects to expand its size next year to accommodate more exhibitors, association chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) said.
This year’s show had 1,300 booths featuring 104 tourism operators, such as travel agencies, hotels and amusement parks, the most since the COVID-19 lockdown.
Several travel agencies focused on more affordable regional tour products to Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asian countries, while also promoting long-haul packages to Europe and the US as the winter vacation approaches, the association said.
Among the biggest beneficiaries of the show was Lion Travel Service Co, which took in about NT$70 million in revenue during the fair, and its online campaign, which started on Oct. 1, pushed total sales to more than NT$1 billion.
The robust online sales largely came from sales of high-end packages, such as tours to Japan’s Hokkaido and cruises, with single orders topping NT$1 million each, Lion Travel said.
Another major travel agency, Ezfly, said its sales generated at the show and online were up 30 percent from a year earlier, with independent packages to Japan for the upcoming winter vacation accounting for about 40 percent of the total.
The travel agency did not disclose exact sales numbers.
My Humble House Hospitality Management Consulting, a Taiwanese hotel operator, said it sold about NT$70 million worth of vouchers at the show, up 17 percent from a year earlier, when domestic travel still had strong momentum.
The hotel operator said that including online sales, its revenue hit NT$150 million during the show.
Formosa International Hotels Corp, another domestic hotel chain operator, said it generated about NT$130 million in revenue during the four-day event, little changed from a year earlier.
In addition to hotel rooms, Formosa said its hotel chain saw growing demand for year-end dinner banquets from corporate clients, and it expected its total fair-related sales that conclude online on Sunday to hit NT$150 million.
China Airlines, one of Taiwan’s biggest international carriers, said it had strong sales at the exhibition, with the number of tickets sold up about 50 percent from a year earlier.
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
RSS