After surviving the harrowing mid-2021 local COVID-19 outbreak, the capital’s foreign restaurateurs are cautiously optimistic about the coming year. Herban Kitchen was having a stellar 2021. With Taiwan a safe haven from pandemic-induced turmoil, the Taipei vegetarian restaurant hit a three-year sales high in early May. Not only were regulars packing the restaurant, but veggie-loving…
The domestic market is too small to sustain the industry indefinitely, especially in Taipei. The unmistakable sound of birds chirping fills the elevator of the Regent Taipei. The avian audio is part of the hotel’s COVID-induced transformation into an urban resort. Unusual, perhaps, but these are not ordinary times for the tourism sector, and besides,…
Booming exports, especially ICT products, are driving demand for industrial plots of land, factories, and logistics facilities to a new high. Ever since the U.S.-China trade dispute began, demand for industrial real estate in Taiwan has been ticking up. Demand strengthened with the launch of the Tsai Ing-wen administration’s reshoring initiative in 2019, which offers…
Neither a local COVID-19 outbreak nor the global rise of remote work has significantly curbed demand for Grade A office space. Over the past two years, a global work-from-home (WFH) trend has emerged that could reshape the relationship between workers and the office. But the WFH movement has not affected all countries equally. In Taiwan,…
Taiwan’s military is set to receive a windfall in the form of a five-year special budget focused on indigenous defense capabilities. Under the Six Core Strategic Industries initiative, the domestic defense supply chain is growing, though foreign technology still plays an integral role. Since early 2020, Chinese military aircraft have regularly intruded into Taiwan’s southwest…
Chipmaking undergirds the Six Core Strategic Industries initiative, particularly in the area of digital and information technology. The Six Core Strategic Industries policy, which the Tsai Ing-wen administration launched in 2020, builds upon the 5+2 Innovative Industries initiative of Tsai’s first term to capitalize on global supply chain changes and catalyze Taiwan’s industrial transformation. Amid…
Extending free vaccination to males could reduce the spread of the human papilloma virus, which is the primary cause of both cervical and oropharyngeal cancer. The human papilloma virus (HPV) is a leading cause of several types of cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that two types of HPV (16 and 18) cause 70%…
Despite a successful national screening program, the incidence of colorectal malignancies has not significantly decreased in recent years. Colorectal cancer has been among the most common malignancies in Taiwan for more than a decade, and it has had a relatively high mortality rate. About 15,000 people are diagnosed with the disease in Taiwan every year,…
Taiwan hit its target of administering the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine to 25% of the population before the end of July, but herd immunity remains a long way off. In roughly eight weeks, Taiwan’s vaccination rate has increased from less than 1% to more than 30%. Large donations from Japan (3.34 million doses…
The COVID-19 outbreak that began in mid-May has brought hotels to their knees. Without a larger relief package, some may not survive. For most of the coronavirus pandemic, domestic tourism has been a bright spot for Taiwan’s hotel industry. Many hotels and B&Bs outside of Taipei – which is more reliant on the international market…
