Grand Hotel reveals secret passageway in anticipation of tourism rebound

2022-09-29

Not only magnificent above the ground, the Grand Hotel in Taipei also boasts a network of mysterious underground tunnels. The public has always known about the secret passageways, designed to evacuate world leaders in case of emergency. A few years ago, the hotel opened up its eastern secret corridors for visits, which proved to be a hit with tourists. Now, after more than 50 years, the Grand Hotel is further revealing its secrets, allowing visitors to walk along a secret tunnel with an exit to the west.

Lu Chung-yu
FTV reporter
The Yuanshan Tunnel’s whereabouts have always been kept in secret. Some think the tunnel leads to the Presidential Office, others say to a secret military base. Now, on camera, we’ll give you the grand reveal. It all leads here, to Jiantan Park.

The exit of the tunnel is shrouded behind two stone walls 5 meters tall. If you weren’t aware of its existence, then you might have never even noticed the blue entrance gate. The escape tunnel was constructed to evacuate the president and international dignitaries in case of an emergency. Before the final reveal, though rumors abounded, no one except a select few knew where the exit was. But now, it’s no longer a mystery.

Lin Yu-sheng
Grand Hotel CEO
In the last two years, though we still had some losses from the pandemic, our turnover still came out third of all hotels in Taipei. As a culturally-oriented hotel, we actually attract many visitors from home and abroad.

Since their introduction to the public, guided tours of the underground tunnels have brought in a great share of the hotel’s revenue. In 2019, when the tunnel on the western wing opened to visitors, it attracted more than 50,000 in the first three months. And even during the pandemic, there were 170,000 visitors in 2020. Now that Taiwan is ready to reopen to tourism, the Grand Hotel has opened up another passageway to visit, in hopes of attracting the first wave of international tourists with its rich history and legacy.

圓山西密道大公開　神秘終點終於揭密

2022-09-29

過去兩蔣時代，為了保護國家元首和外國使節應對緊急狀況，而打造的秘密通道，一直以來都讓民眾相當好奇，而今天圓山正式公開西密道的出口，到底通到哪，跟著記者一起來看看。

[[民視記者呂中漁]]
“圓山密道過去一直保密到家，到底通到哪邊，有人說是通往總統府，也有人說通往軍事秘密基地，現在透過鏡頭，一起帶您大解密，打開大門一看，原來是在劍潭公園”

密道出口，被兩座高5公尺的石牆遮蔽，不仔細看還不知道這裡還有扇門，過去為了保護國家元首和外國使節打造的秘密通道，出口地點有著種種傳說，但從28號曝光後，就不再是秘密。

[[圓山大飯店董事長林育生]]
“這兩年來，雖然我們面對疫情還是有虧損，但是我們的營收在整個台北市的飯店業是第三名，我們這樣一個文化導覽特性的一個飯店，其實會吸引很多的國內外旅客”

東、西密道一直都是圓山的金雞母，西密道2019開放導覽後，短短三個月就湧入超過五萬人次參觀，即使疫情，在2020年仍有17萬人次造訪，這次眼看國境開放在即，圓山飯店決定再揭曉密道出口，希望藉由歷史故事，讓觀光人潮回流。