30-second overview: Taiwan has 13 "national scenic areas," starting with the Northeast Coast in 1984. Covering roughly 700,000 hectares across land and sea, they serve tens of millions of visitors annually. But unlike "national parks," these scenic areas prioritize tourism over conservation — a seemingly contradictory positioning that has been the greatest management challenge in Taiwan's 40 years of tourism development.
What do you expect from a place with "national" in its name? World-class protection standards? Strict environmental controls?
Taiwan's national scenic areas might surprise you: their purpose is not protection, but profit.
In 1984, Taiwan's first national scenic area was born along the Northeast Coast. It was three years after martial law was lifted, the economy was booming, and the government realized tourism might be the next golden industry. Thus, a scenic area system centered on "tourism development" came into being.
Forty years later, these 13 scenic areas have become a key pillar of Taiwan's tourism industry, but they also face unprecedented challenges: how to find balance between making money and protecting nature?
A Contradictory Beginning
The legal basis for national scenic areas is the "Tourism Development Act" promulgated in 1969, under which the Ministry of Transportation designated "scenic special zones." The thinking at the time was straightforward: Taiwan has beautiful scenery, so why not use it for tourism development?
In June 1984, the Northeast Coast Scenic Area Administration Office was established, marking the beginning of Taiwan's systematic scenic area construction. The choice of the Northeast Coast was no accident — it's only an hour's drive from Taipei, features unique coastal erosion landforms, and is near the historic sites of Jiufen and Jinsha, making it an ideal testing ground for tourism development.
💡 Did you know?
The biggest difference between Taiwan's national scenic areas and national parks lies in their management objectives: national parks are managed by the Ministry of the Interior's National Park Service with a focus on ecological conservation; national scenic areas are managed by the Ministry of Transportation's Tourism Bureau with a focus on tourism development.
Despite both carrying the "national" label, their protection standards differ vastly.
But this institutional design planted the seeds of contradiction from the very beginning.
Environmental Information Center's criticism was right to the point: "Currently, scenic areas like Alishan and Sun Moon Lake merely add the title of 'national scenic area' to their names and build beautiful visitor centers, without providing matching comprehensive tourism information, in-depth content and activities, or complete guided interpretation."
In other words, Taiwan gave these places a 'national-level' name, but did not provide corresponding management standards.
The Era of Rapid Expansion
After the East Coast followed suit in 1988, leisure travel demand surged in the second half of the 1990s, and the government accelerated scenic area construction. Of the 13 scenic areas, 11 were established between 1995 and 2005:
- 1995: Penghu National Scenic Area
- 1996: East Rift Valley National Scenic Area
- 1997: Dapeng Bay National Scenic Area
- 1999: Matsu National Scenic Area
- 2000: Sun Moon Lake and Sanxiantmen National Scenic Areas
- 2001: Alishan and Meinong National Scenic Areas
- 2002: North Coast and Qixingshan National Scenic Area
- 2003: Yunlin Coast National Scenic Area
- 2005: Syuoxi National Scenic Area
Each scenic area's establishment represented the government's emphasis on the tourism industry. But it also meant that increasingly more relatively pristine natural environments were brought under "development and utilization."
This process was not without controversy. Take the Sanxiantmen National Scenic Area as an example — it encompasses three entirely different regions: Shihzihshan, Baguashan, and Lishan. Lishan sits at an elevation of about 2,000 meters. After the Central Cross-Island Highway opened in 1960, veterans who participated in the road construction settled here and began farming. The government introduced temperate fruits, and orchards preceded the scenic area by forty years. High-altitude orchards combined with tourism crowds have long been a source of soil erosion concerns.
The key contradiction is this: scenic areas must "protect" the scenery, yet simultaneously "develop" it. These two goals are fundamentally at odds.
The Present State of 13 Scenic Areas
Today's Taiwan national scenic area system consists of 13 administration offices, spanning from coastal areas at sea level to high mountains over 2,000 meters, covering volcanic geology to coral reef ecosystems, encompassing nearly all of Taiwan's landscape types.
According to the Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau's 2023 report, these scenic areas have gradually recovered after the pandemic:
Key Data (2023):
- Northeast Coast and Yilan Coast: Combined ridership of Taiwan's Good Hiking three routes totaled 159,207 person-times
- Sun Moon Lake: Over 78,000 tourist consultation services, Taiwan's Good Hiking Sun Moon Lake line carried 769,323 person-times
- Alishan: Attracted 5.47 million visitors, generating approximately NT$1.18 billion in tourism revenue
- Penghu: Various activities attracted over 100,000 visitors, creating NT$520 million in economic value
These numbers look impressive, but the pressures behind them are very real.
⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint
In 2023, the Penghu National Scenic Area cleaned up 1,650.9 tons of coastal garbage along 1,894 kilometers of coastline.
This figure demonstrates the efforts of the management unit, but also exposes the actual environmental impact of tourism pressure.
The Unspoken Costs
The success of Taiwan's national scenic areas is often measured by "visitor numbers" and "tourism revenue." But some costs cannot be quantified by numbers.
The cost of mountain tourism development is perhaps most evident in Qingjing. In Ren'ai Township, where Qingjing Farm is located, there are over 100 European-style guesthouses within just 4 kilometers. According to Nantou County statistics, there are 134 guesthouses in the Qingjing area, of which only 34 are legal. Most of these guesthouses are built on slopes with a 50-60% grade, far exceeding the legally mandated 30% limit.
Even more serious is the fact that the Qingjing area has no sewage treatment system, and all wastewater is directly discharged into the Zhuoshui River. The high level of development has expanded the impermeable surface area, causing surface runoff to carry large amounts of sediment, leading to severe siltation in the downstream Wanda Reservoir.
Director Qiu Parlin's footage in "Seeing Taiwan" is shocking: next to the Alishan Zhuanshan Station, there are large areas of mountain slope collapse danger zones.
This is the fundamental dilemma facing Taiwan's national scenic area system: tourism brings in revenue, but also brings environmental costs. And these costs are often borne by future generations.
📝 Curator's Note
The narrator of "Seeing Taiwan," Wu Nianzhen, once publicly warned: "When we stay in guesthouses, drink high mountain tea, and eat high mountain vegetables as trendy leisure activities, we are actually all accomplices in destroying this land."
This statement points out a cruel truth: consumers' choices determine the future of the environment.
Efforts Toward Transformation
Faced with environmental pressures, the national scenic area system has not remained idle. In recent years, "sustainable development," "ecotourism," and "green certification" have become the focus of development in each scenic area.
Specific actions include:
- Northeast Coast: Awarded the Gold Prize of Green Destinations (2024-2026), promoting 14 businesses to obtain green tourism certification
- Yunlin Coast: Awarded the Bronze Prize of Green Tourism Destination (2024-2026), with Yunlin Port Lake Guiwan Wetland selected as one of the top 2023 global sustainable destination stories
- Penghu: "Exploring Penghu · Protecting Coral Reefs" won the 2023 Global Sustainable Destination Story Award
- Sun Moon Lake: Awarded the Silver Prize of Global Green Tourism Destination, Environmental Education Center passed the excellent evaluation
But the real challenge is not in technology, but in mindset.
How to make tourists understand the value of "slow"? How to make businesses accept "less" profit? How to make the government acknowledge that "economic growth" is not the only indicator of tourism development?
The answers to these questions will determine the future of Taiwan's national scenic area system.
New Possibilities in the Digital Age
In 2023, each scenic area has been promoting "smart tourism." The East Coast used existing cameras at the Moonlight Music Festival to establish real-time crowd analysis, and launched a multi-language (Chinese, English, Japanese) PWA mobile travel service. The North Coast provides real-time video of popular attractions, traffic warnings, and parking information.
These technological applications are not only for the convenience of tourists, but more importantly, they carry the burden of capacity management. Through real-time data, management units can issue early warnings when there are too many visitors, guide diversions, and reduce environmental pressure.
But technology is just a tool; the key is still the transformation of management thinking.
💡 Did you know?
In 2023 alone, the Sun Moon Lake National Scenic Area had 59 public restrooms awarded the Ministry of Environment's excellent certification. This seemingly trivial number actually reflects the improvement in infrastructure quality. Good restrooms are not only part of the tourist experience, but also a concrete practice of environmental hygiene and sustainable management.
Reflection After 40 Years
From 1984 to 2024, Taiwan's national scenic area system has walked through 40 years. It has successfully allowed more people to see Taiwan's beautiful scenery, created considerable economic benefits, and nurtured an entire generation of tourism professionals.
But 40 years of development has also exposed systemic problems: the fundamental contradiction between tourism and conservation, the difficulty of coordination between central and local governments, and the conflict between short-term interests and long-term sustainability.
The Environmental Information Center's criticism from 2004 still applies today: "National scenic areas are the entry point for the public's tourism and leisure activities. If these national-level scenic areas can integrate information, implement guided interpretation, and thoroughly reduce the impact on the natural environment, it will be a very good model and starting point for promoting deep tourism."
Twenty years have passed. How much have we accomplished?
The Next 40 Years
Climate change, pandemic impacts, and international competition — the challenges facing Taiwan's national scenic area system are more complex than ever. But opportunities abound.
The new generation of tourists values sustainability more, is willing to pay for quality, and seeks deep experiences rather than superficial sightseeing. This provides an opportunity for the transformation of Taiwan's national scenic areas.
The key lies in whether we can shift from "quantity" growth to "quality" improvement, from "development" thinking to "management" thinking, and from "short-term gains" to "long-term value."
The future of Taiwan's national scenic area system is not just about 13 scenic areas, but a microcosm of how all of Taiwan faces the eternal contradiction between development and protection.
On this beautiful island, each of us is part of the scenery, and also the guardian of the scenery.
References
- Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau — National Scenic Area policies and statistics
- Republic of China 2023 Tourism Business Annual Report — 2023 scenic area operational data
- National Park vs. National Scenic Area — Environmental Information Center, 2004
- Seeing Taiwan: Can You Still Not See Taiwan's Mountain Development Problem? — Environmental Information Center, 2013
- National-Level Scenic Special Zone — Wikipedia
- Introduction to the 13 National Scenic Areas under the Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau — Executive Yuan, 2025, scope and area of each zone
- Establishment and Expansion of Each National-Level Scenic Special Zone — Audit Office Investigation Report Appendix, establishment dates and areas of each zone
- Tourism Development Act Historical Evolution — National Legal Database, promulgated on July 30, 1969
- Tourism Statistics Database — Ministry of Transportation Tourism Bureau