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The five-star complex is expected to attract large numbers from the Chinese Mainland |
TAIWAN. Ever Rich Group has opened its new five-star Golden Lake Hotel in Kinmen, part of the company’s major tourism investment there, which also includes a vast duty free complex at the Ever Rich Golden Lake Plaza (phase one of which opened in May).
The hotel’s soft opening (on 20 December) came just before a new policy for Kinmen visas came into force on 1 January, which should encourage tourism from the Chinese Mainland. Kinmen is situated just 30 minutes by ferry from Xiamen, making it a key transport hub for travel across the Taiwan Straits.
The new visa policy applies to residents of 36 cities in Mainland China whose citizens are allowed to travel to Taiwan independently. Travellers must hold a permit to travel to Taiwan that is valid for over one month and to have booked a return ferry trip. Upon arrival at Kinmen harbour, visitors can apply for temporary entry and pay a fee of RMB125 (US$20), with Customs formalities completed in just two minutes. Visitors can then stay in Kinmen for up to 15 days.
Ever Rich said: “This policy makes travelling to Kinmen much more convenient for people from Mainland China, allowing visitors to enjoy the unique cultural sights of Kinmen, fine local food and buy duty free luxury goods at unbeatable prices flexibly and quickly, and also stay in Kinmen’s first five-star standard hotel.”
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The 12-storey hotel has 276 guest rooms and an array of high-class facilities |
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The hotel is the first international business resort in Kinmen that combines tourism, recreation, shopping and entertainment, according to Ever Rich. The 12-storey facility has 276 guest rooms, each with a view of either the lake or mountains.
Facilities include Chinese and Western restaurants (see below), bar, banquet hall, conference rooms, business centre, gym, sauna/spa pool and warm water swimming pool. The hot water provided by the hotel and the swimming pool water is heated through energy transferred from the air conditioning in the Ever Rich Golden Lake Plaza, which the company said “maximises energy use and puts green concepts into action”.
The diverse food & beverage options include Western-style restaurant Lakeview offering views of Little Lake Tai, and the New Golden Lake Restaurant that showcases the cultural diversity of Taiwanese cuisine. The bar on the first floor, 21 Bar, is Kinmen’s first Western-style bar. It specialise in using the local Kinmen kaoliang liquor as an ingredient in cocktails.
The hotel’s conference and banquet facilities include the 1,000sq m Taiwu Banquet Hall, which holds up to 1,000 people, while the conference hall measures 400sq m.
The sky garden on the hotel’s fourth floor offers access directly to the duty free plaza, where all the branded boutiques have now opened, said Ever Rich.
Ever Rich Golden Lake Plaza offers more than 500 leading luxury brands, including Gucci, Prada, Burberry, Ferragamo, Omega, Rolex and others. The Plaza also features Kinmen’s first imported product supermarket and the first multi-screen film theatre, the Ambassador.
Ever Rich noted that the prospects for tourism and business in Kinmen today are “very promising”.
It said: “With the introduction of the outlying island landing visa for Mainland Chinese visitors on 1 January 2015, Asia’s largest duty-free shopping centre and an all-new five-star standard hotel, Kinmen is not only a splendid back garden that more and more Xiamen residents want to visit. Its charms can now also be appreciated by people from other parts of China who are visiting Xiamen for business or tourism.”
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The duty free plaza, now fully open, features over 500 brands |
