Wuling Farm Getting Over 6,000 Visitors a Day 武陵最佳賞花期 櫻花季首週末6千人入園

Droves of tourists are descending on parks and farms with cherry blossoms, causing massive traffic congestion. Tourists are complaining about 2-hour waits for shuttles, and some seniors are leaving without seeing a single blossom due to long wait times.

Cherry blossom season has arrived at Taichung's Wuling Farm. People are coming from all over Taiwan to see the cherry blossoms, and the farm is averaging 6-7,000 visitors a day on weekends. One particular 30-year-old showa sakura tree is very popular with tourists.

Hu Fa-tao, Deputy Director, Wuling Farm: “It's 12-15 meters high, or four-to-five stories high. It's very beautiful.”

Cherry blossom season has also opened on Fushou Mountain. Park officials say at higher altitudes, cherry blossom season occurs between mid-February and mid-March. Nantou's Caopingtou is another popular cherry blossom destination, although extreme traffic congestion has led to many complaints.

Tourist: “Look. There are so many cars. The traffic is going to be so bad. How many passengers can 10 (shuttle) buses carry? Why are you allowing private cars?”

Cars are backed up for miles on this tiny mountain road. Passengers on shuttles, meanwhile, are forced to walk 2 kilometers from the parking lot to get to the shuttle bus stop. Taking the shuttle bus also doesn't mean getting to the park any faster, because the bus gets stuck on the same congested road as cars. 

Chuan Chih-chien, Chief, Xinyi Township, Nantou County: “The parking lot at Caopingtou is full. No one can enter, and the traffic is backed up onto the New Cross-island Central Highway.”

Huang Cheng-tsung, Associate Tourism Professor, Providence University: “You're not going to be able to control congestion unless you count how many parking spaces you have and how many passengers shuttle buses can carry.”

The Sinyi Township Office says the park's capacity was set at around 5,000 people, but the park is getting 15,000 visitors a day and extra shuttle buses have not helped. Tourism experts say the organizer needs to conduct a traffic resource inventory to disperse flow and improve tourism quality.

粉色的櫻花在枝頭綻放，放眼望去交織成花海廊道，台中武陵農場櫻花進入最佳賞花期，櫻花季開跑第一個週末就吸引大批遊客，週休假期每天都有6、7千人次。尤其這株樹齡30年的粉紅櫻王，品種是昭和櫻，更是拍照熱點。

台中武陵農場副場長胡發韜說道：「大概它的高度有4層樓到5層樓，粗估大概12公尺到15公尺，非常漂亮。」

福壽山也進入賞花季，園方表示，當地海拔較高，最佳賞櫻季節約在2月中旬到3月中旬，另外在南投信義的草坪頭也進入賞花季，但人車擠爆的景象讓不少遊客抱怨。

南投信義草坪頭遊客指出：「你看這麼多小車，不會塞車才怪。10台遊覽車，就可以多少人放行（接駁到這裡）了，但是你卻是放行小車。」

遊客拍下通往草坪頭的狹小山路，車輛一輛一輛開進去，要搭接駁車的民眾，得停到2公里外的停車場搭接駁車。而因為接駁車和湧進的轎車，都被塞在山路上，導致搭乘民眾一等就是2個小時起跳，現場人潮大排長龍。

南投信義鄉長全志堅表示：「我們草坪頭園區停車場已經滿了，所以小車輛就進不去，導致車輛就塞在新中橫公路。」

靜宜大學觀光系副教授黃正聰說明：「停車場盤點，還有接駁車數量的計算，這個都要把它再算清楚（才能控制總量）。」

信義鄉公所估計，原本園區容納的人數約5千人，但因為天氣晴朗加上寒假尾聲，光是一天就有1萬5千人次，緊急加派接駁車也無法應付。學者建議主辦單位，應加強交通資源的盤點計畫，民眾也可盡量分流，旅遊品質才能提升。