The Tourism Administration last week revised campsite management guidelines to relax land use regulations and encourage more campgrounds to operate legally under regulatory oversight.
Taiwan has a total of 1,905 camping grounds, of which only 161 are operating legally, Tourism Administration data showed.
Among the 1,744 illegal operators, 80 percent are on land designated for agriculture or forests.
Photo: Taipei Times
Operators are reluctant to comply due to current campsite management guidelines, which limit the scope of camping grounds operations, as well as ineffective inspections conducted by local governments and official organizations.
The agency has now relaxed restrictions to allow certain areas of unregistered campgrounds to fall under “leave nothing behind” camping, a principle requiring campers to leave the area exactly as they found it.
The revisions were implemented immediately in a bid to encourage campgrounds to operate under regulatory oversight.
Campgrounds come under different regulations and responsible authorities based on their land use classification.
Relevant laws may include the Urban Planning Act (都市計畫法), the Regional Plan Act (區域計畫法), the National Property Act (國有財產法), the Forestry Act (森林法), the Building Act (建築法) and the Soil and Water Conservation Act (水土保持法).
According to current regulations, campgrounds on agricultural or forest land must not exceed a total area of 1 hectare, of which the combined space for campsite facilities, sanitation facilities and management offices must not exceed 10 percent and is capped at 660m².
Moreover, for agricultural and pastoral land, sanitation and management areas must not exceed a combined 30 percent of that cap, while for forest land, the limit is 10 percent.
The 660m² limit is only enough space for 14 tents, which is too limited for viable operations, the agency said, leading to operators neglecting to apply for permits.
A campsite management and supervision task force convened by the central government concluded that 90 percent of the land area for those campgrounds could still fall under “leave no trace” camping, which prohibits permanent infrastructure including gravel, concrete or wooden decks.
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