With the spread of the COVID-19, the tourism industry in Taiwan has suffered a severe decline. Due to the impact of the epidemic, various hotels have launched bento to increase their sales. In order to help the hotel industry lessen the loss caused by the epidemic, the Tourism Bureau, Kaohsiung City Government has coordinated with 14 hotels to launch TWD100 bento. In addition to encouraging the City Government’s employees to order the bento and providing the bento for those who missed meals while working on epidemic–related businesses in various bureaus and offices, the Bureau also encourages private enterprises to order bento from hotels in the City, thereby showing support for the hotels through such actions!
Mr. Chiu Jun-Long, Director of the Tourism Bureau, said that due to the epidemic, the occupancy of hotels in Kaohsiung City was 32% and 16% in February and March this year, respectively, which was 30% and 50% lower compared to the same months last year, respectively. The drop in occupancy has severely affected the day-to-day operations of hotels. In order to help the hotels surmount this challenge, the Tourism Bureau has launched the “TWD100 bento to support hotel industry” campaign and encouraged the City Government’s various bureaus and offices to order the bento for their meetings. Currently, there are 14 participating hotels: Fullon Hotels & Resort, The Lees Hotel, Howard Plaza Hotel Kaohsiung, Holiday Garden Hotel Kaohsiung, Han-Hsien International Hotel, CitySuites Kaohsiung Chenai, Midtown Richardson Kaohsiung, Hotel dua, Hotel R14, Greet Inn, E-DA Skylark Hotel, Chateau de Chine Hotel, Ever Luck Hotel and H2O Hotel. Each hotel has launched its own special TWD100 takeaway bento. The bento is of high quality and prepared by the chefs from the respective hotels. The Tourism Bureau has put together a list of dishes available in bento from various hotels for the public to easily choose their favorite bento and enjoy a hearty meal.
In addition to promoting hotel bento, the Bureau has also been counseling the legal hotels on transforming into self-quarantine hotels in line with the central policies, providing those requiring home quarantine with alternate accommodation. In addition to the hotels for quarantine, the Bureau has worked with the Kaohsiung Hotel Association to launch “friendly hotels” to allow the family of individuals who have just returned to Taiwan and are put under home quarantine, to stay at these hotels at a discounted rate. Currently, more than 80 hotels from Kaohsiung City have become part of the friendly hotel program, in which the family members can stay in one of these hotels for as low as TWD1000 a night. The Bureau is further subsidizing those staying in a friendly hotel by providing a daily allowance of TWD500 per household. Each household can receive up to TWD7000 for 14-days stay to reduce their financial burden.
At the same time, Director Chiu also mentioned that in the face of the epidemic, the tourism industry has suffered tremendously; therefore, the Bureau is working with the Kaohsiung Hotel Association and the enterprises to fight against the epidemic’s effects and provide strong support for enterprises to deal with the challenges.
For more information regarding the TWD100 bento from hotels in Kaohsiung City, please visit the Kaohsiung Travel website (https://khh.travel/News.aspx?a=5&l=1&p=1
).