Sat, Sep 03, 2011 page2

• FEATURE: Sun Moon Lake becomes victim of its own success

  TOO MANY, TOO SOON: Despite the frenzied building of infrastructure, the lake was not ready for the tourist crush and it has found itself beleaguered by problems

  • By Jamie Wang / CNA
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  Long touted as one of the nation’s top tourist attractions, Sun Moon Lake (日月潭) has become a victim of the explosive growth in the number of tourists visiting the area and finds itself scrambling for answers on how to reverse worrying negative trends that have cost the scenic spot some of its luster.

  From 1991 to 2008, Sun Moon Lake remained a relatively tranquil haven nestled in the mountains of Nantou County. Annual visitor numbers ranged between 530,000 and 1 million, peaking at 1.14 million in 2006, according to Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration figures.

  However, 2009 saw the wholesale arrival of Chinese tourists, who count Sun Moon Lake as a “must see” in Taiwan, sending visitor numbers soaring to 2.6 million. The figure then took another exponential jump to 6.4 million last year after a sharp spike in the number of domestic tourist visits.

  

  The Neihu Technology Park is pictured on June 28.

  Photo: Lin Mei-fang, Taipei Times

  Despite the frenzied building of hotels and infrastructure, Sun Moon Lake was not ready for the tourist crush and has found itself beleaguered by problems that have compromised tourists’ experience of the scenic spot.

  “[Growth was] so fast that it has influenced to some extent the quality of tourism in the area,” Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area Administration section chief Lin Chun-hsiung said.

  Visitors have shown their dissatisfaction by staying away.

  In the first seven months of this year, 2.81 million people visited Sun Moon Lake, down 35 percent when compared with the same period last year.

  The inability of hotels to maintain their standards under the visitor onslaught has been one factor contributing to the area’s woes.

  In an article on Sun Moon Lake’s growth pains, the Chinese-language United Evening News cited visitors who complained of hotels “charging five-star prices, but offering half-star service,” while Chou Cheng-hsiung (周盛雄), head of the Nantou County Tourism Association, acknowledged that service quality had declined.

  “When there are too many [tourists], it is, of course, difficult to maintain good service,” he said.

  Area authorities have worked hard to improve quality, he said, but the initiatives had failed to catch up with the mounting pressure imposed by soaring demand.

  Then there is the proliferation of the notorious “little bees,” touts for yacht tour tickets on motorcycles, who gained their nickname for their mobility and reputation for bugging tourists.

  The “little bees” are known for blocking the sidewalk and pestering pedestrians to buy tickets, not exactly how visitors want to enjoy a relaxing stroll by the lake.

  However Lin, who said his agency had received only a limited number of complaints about hotels and the “little bees,” is convinced there are two other issues at play in the numbers decline.

  One, he said, was the new cable car system that started operating at the end of 2009. It proved immensely popular last year, especially with Taipei’s Maokong Gondola out of service for repairs. Now that its novelty has worn off, it is less of a draw.

  The second factor and the biggest culprit, he said, is overcrowding and traffic congestion.

  “The main problem is the parking situation. Other issues, like the ‘little bees,’ are not nearly as important,” he said. “A real issue is that the habits of domestic tourists have not changed. Everybody is still used to driving their cars wherever they go.”

  Conventional wisdom has also put the onus for the falling numbers on a dropoff in the number of Chinese visitors to Taiwan this year, a theory offered by Chou and Tien Fu-tsun (田福川), chairman of the Nantou County Tourism Union.

  However, the Scenic Area Administration said visits by Chinese nationals were down by only 20,000 this year compared with the 670,000 who visited the lake from January to July last year, figures that have directed the administration’s attention toward domestic tourists.

  The agency hopes to relieve some of the traffic congestion and parking frustrations with the newly built Siangshan Visitor Center and the still-under-construction Ita Thao parking lot.

  However, Chou is doubtful the visitor center will help much because the administration is also planning a new cable car system, which would draw yet more people to the area and flood the center’s parking spaces.

  He said the real answer to the parking issue would be to build a multilevel parking lot and he has also suggested promoting new attractions in the region to spread visitors more thinly.

  One initiative in that direction is a package put together by the administration that includes a cable car ticket and a trip to Checheng (車埕), to the west of the lake, which is the terminus of the Jiji (集集) tourist railroad.

  About 50,000 tickets for the package were sold from May to December and another 36,000 in the first seven months of this year, and the administration has not given up trying to change domestic tourists’ travel habits.

  Lin said the agency is coordinating with the high-speed rail, railway administration and bus companies to offer preferential fares to encourage travelers to travel to the area on public transport.

  Though visitor numbers are down compared with last year, they are still historically high and there seems to be little thought that Sun Moon Lake has developed too quickly and that visitor numbers should be capped at a more manageable level. The administration is sticking to its goal of attracting 6.5 million visitors to Sun Moon Lake this year, rather unlikely considering the last four months of the year are usually the area’s quiet season.

  Neither Chou, who said the decline in service quality included “filthy restrooms,” nor Tien seem interested in slowing the development of the area.

  Instead, their focus is on giving Sun Moon Lake greater “international visibility” by adding one or more international five-star hotels to draw more visitors from countries other than China.

  Tien said it is difficult for businesses to develop in the area because of the many layers of bureaucracy. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, for instance, is in charge of the lake, while the Council of Agriculture is responsible for the forests that surround it.

  That has hindered development, which Tien described as “not really having taken place.”

  He also complained that the government has not done enough to enhance the park’s international reputation and promote Aboriginal culture in the area.

  “As a result, Sun Moon Lake is not considered an internationally known destination,” Tien said.
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