Average hotel bookings for the first three days of the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday are below 50 percent, about 6 percentage points lower than last year, government data showed.
As of Wednesday, the average booking rate for hotels across Taiwan for the first three days of the long holiday weekend was 49.22 percent, down from an average of 55.23 percent for the first four days of last year’s five-day holiday.
The Tourism Administration, which does not look at booking rates for the final day of the holiday because most people return home that day, attributed the general decline to a shorter holiday weekend this year.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
It could also be because more Taiwanese are vacationing abroad, no longer affected by COVID-19 considerations.
In January, the most recent month for which data are available, 1.28 million Taiwanese traveled abroad, up 84 percent from January last year.
Despite the relative decline in bookings, hotels in 13 cities and counties had booking rates of more than 50 percent, Tourism Administration data showed.
The highest average booking rate was 67.43 percent in Lienchiang County, likely due to the “blue tears” season that begins this month.
Blue tears is a name for a natural phenomenon in which clusters of bioluminescent marine algae, known as dinoflagellates, near the Matsu archipelago emit a blue glow when disturbed by waves.
Hotels in Tainan, and Hualien and Lienchiang counties are booked for Thursday at a more than 60 percent rate, tourism data showed.
Bookings were even stronger for Friday, exceeding 60 percent on average in hotels in Taipei, Taichung and Tainan, and Chiayi, Hualien, Miaoli, Nantou, Pingtung and Taitung counties, and 70 percent in Lienchiang County.
For Saturday, Taipei and Lienchiang had average booking rates or more than 60 percent, the data showed.
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
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS