Chairmans Message
2010-03-05
Dear Chamber Members,
According to recent reports this year is set to be a boom year for Taiwan’s Tourist industry which I know will be good news for many of our members. During 2009 more than 4.4 million tourists came to Taiwan. This year the bureau expects somewhere in the region of 4.5 million to 4.8 million visitors with most coming from Hong Kong, Macau and countries in Southeast Asia. The Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has also announced that in April Taipei and Beijing are expected to open reciprocal tourism offices in April which will be responsible for promoting cross-strait tourism.
In other news the Taiwan Stock Exchange has announced that it is looking to attract more companies to list here. At the end of last year there were 741 listed companies and a further 14 Taiwan Depositary Receipts on the exchange. This year the exchange hopes to see 5 local initial public offerings and between 10 and 20 new issues of TDRs this year. The exchange is also hoping to have between three and five foreign IPOs in 2010.
Finally it also looks as though the Executive Yuan may scrap the proposed plans for a preferential tax rate of 15% for multinational companies considering setting up headquarters in Taiwan. The plan had been designed as a way of encouraging more foreign firms to set up headquarters in Taiwan.
Turning now to Chamber business as always there is a lot happening in March. In terms of the Chamber’s business programme on March 23rd Christopher Rodrigues CBE, Chairman, VisitBritain will be in Taipei to talk to the Chamber about Supporting the growth of the visitor economy and maximising the impact of public investment in tourism, which is very topical given the targets of Taiwan’s Tourist board. Then on March 29th the Chamber will hold its first Women and Business Networking event featuring guest speaker Betty Miao, Head of Personal Financial Services, HSBC. The Chamber also has a number of social activities this month including Curry Lunch at Carnegies on March 12th and the All Chamber Drinks at the Marco Polo Lounge on March 19th. Be sure to register early in order to avoid disappointment.
Regards,
Peter Crowhurst
BCCT Chairman
