Tourists flood into scenic spots on holiday weekend

Scenic spots across Taiwan have been swamped with large crowds during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday weekend, with ongoing traffic congestion on the nation’s freeways and highways, according to local governments and transport authorities.

As many as 98,000 tourists poured into Liuqiu Island off southwestern Taiwan on Saturday, the Pingtung County government said.

The night market in Pingtung’s popular tourist destination Kenting was also crowded on Saturday, with highways leading to the area and neighboring Taitung County seeing about 2,000 vehicles per hour — about the same level before a COVID-19 outbreak swept Taiwan in May.

Both high-end hotels and bed and breakfasts in Kenting reported good business, with their rooms being almost fully occupied.

Islandwide, travelers also flocked to Tamsui, Guandu, Daxi, Fulong and Jiaoxi in northern Taiwan, as well as Sun Moon Lake and Qingjing Farm in central Taiwan.

According to the Transport Ministry, traffic volume on the nation’s freeways is expected to reach 120 million vehicle-kilometers (MVK) on Sunday, which is 1.4 times that of a normal weekday on average.

MVK is a measure of traffic flow which is determined by multiplying the number of vehicles on a traffic network by the average length of their trips measured in kilometers.

Traffic congestion will be expected on Freeway No. 1 on southbound lanes between the Yangmei-Hsinchu section in northern Taiwan and the Changhua-Puyan section in central Taiwan, as well as northbound lanes in the Yuanshan-Dahua section in northern Taiwan, the ministry said.

On Freeway No. 3, there will likely be heavy traffic on southbound lanes between the Sanying-Guanxi and Wuri-Wufeng sections in central Taiwan.

On Freeway No. 5, congestion can be expected on southbound lanes between the Nangang and Pinglin sections in northern Taiwan, the ministry said. (Click here for real-time traffic information around Taiwan)

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel