Luxury resort opens at Sun Moon Lake

The 92 room hotel stands 12 stories tall on the site of what was once a holiday home of the late President Chiang Kai-shek on a hill overlooking one of Taiwan's most popular tourist destinations.

At the opening ceremony, Premier Wu Den-yih read a poem that he wrote especially for the occasion.

“The natural beauty of the mountains and the lake are free,” Wu said in his Chinese language poem, extolling the natural attractions of the Nantou County area.

The resort project was initiated by the Nantou County government and constructed on the build-operate-transfer model at a cost of NT$2.4 billion (US$74.93 million), said County Magistrate Lee Chao-ching.

It was designed to look like a luxury clipper and its “mast” was gilded with 479.54 ounces of gold.

“Some suites are equipped with gold gilded toilets and washbasins and prices start at US$1,000 per night,” a tour guide on a lake boat tour told the passengers.

The new resort is located on the highest point of the Hanbi Peninsula, close to the Lalu, a premium resort hotel.

“Once the new resort begins operations, it will start a trend for luxury tourism at Sun Moon Lake,” Harbor Resort Hotel General Manager Liu Chih-fan forecast.

Sun Moon Lake is one of the fastest growing tourism areas in Taiwan, particularly since Taiwan eased its restrictions on tourism from China.

According to statistics from the the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration, 720,000 Chinese tourists visited the area in the first half of this year, which was more than the number for the whole of 2009. The number is expected to exceed 1.2 million this year, said Tseng Kuo-chi, head of the administration.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email