Translated by Cara Steenstra

News released by the Government Information Office

Release Date: 2006-2-13

Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu has been actively developing the tourism industry since the beginning of his office, and this effort has successfully attracted many visitors from Taiwan and abroad to Taichung city. According to statistics from the Tourism Bureau, the number of tourists staying in hotels in Taichung city between January and September 2005 reached 203,000, an increase of 78.02% compared to the same period last year. And compared with the average increase nationwide of 25.95%, it exceeds by almost 52%.

In Taichung City, between January and September 2005, the tourist hotel occupancy rate reached a high of 82.83%, exceeding the national average of 70.88% by almost 12%, with an increase of 18.99% compared with same period in 2004. As for the average room rates of tourist hotels and their total income, between January and September of 2005, the average room rate is NT$2,391, and the total income is NT$18.3 billion, the respective increases compared with the same period in 2004 were 2.71% and 11.94%.

Up until the end of September 2004, international tourist hotels in Taichung city includes the National Hotel, the Taichung Plaza International Hotel, the Evergreen Laurel Hotel (Taichung) the Howard Prince Hotel (Taichung) and the Splendor Hotel (Taichung), with a total of 1,268 rooms. In 2001 and 2002, the hotel room occupancy rate remained at just above 50%, and the number of tourists visiting Taiwan who stayed in Taichung city numbered at 168,000. In 2003, due to the influence of SARS, the number of tourists visiting Taiwan who stayed in Taichung city dropped to 17,000, however the international tourist hotel room occupancy rate remained at 58.12%. In 2004, the government actively promoted the Taiwan Tourism Year and its related promotional activities, hotel room occupancy rate rose significantly, and the number of tourists visiting Taiwan who stayed in Taichung also increased. And between the months of January and September of 2005, new records were created, with numbers topping 82.83.3% and 203,000 people.