| Summary: | 碩士 === 開南大學 === 觀光運輸學院碩士在職專班 === 102 === It has been 50 years since the Shihmen Reservoir completed construction in 1964. It was once Taiwan’s most famous and popular tourist attraction with the island’s first-ever tourist hotel, Sesame Hotel and the biggest and newest Asia World Amusement Park. The best of the best had once gathered there. Today’s Shihmen is no longer the top tourist destination. It went through the ups and downs of life like that of a waning aristocracy. This research aims to explore if Shihmen will ever regain its glory.
This researcher’s family has operated live fish restaurants for 40 years, offering the researcher personal experience with the wax and wane of the live fish industry. The researcher attempts to analyze Shihmen Reservoir’s tourism development, using the Tourism Area of Life Cycle, based on personal participation and observation, as well as from historic documents. This researcher has uncovered two vital components that determined the fate of Shihmen Reservoir’s tourism development: organizational laws and regulations, and key personnel.
Shihmen Reservoir has beautiful and charming scenery. In as early as 2003, our government’s committee on tourism development had given Shihmen Reservoir high rankings for scenic designation at the national level. Now, research and factual analysis prove that due to the concern for water supply, the Central Government eventually decided to incorporate Shihmen Reservoir into the Water Resource Protection Zone , and unfortunately, effectively ending its future of tourism development.
This research also found that similar reservoirs in many other countries have a brighter future when it comes to tourism development, and they present no conflict with water conservation. Even our own reservoirs, such as Wushantou and Sun Moon Lake, have national tourism designation and receive Central Government funding, enabling the parallel development of tourism and the economy. Whereas with Shihmen Reservoir, its functions have been limited to flood prevention and water supply. There is certainly room for reconsideration and improvement. As both domestic and international tourism trend shifts toward sports and leisure and natural ecosystem, Shihmen Reservoir still has the unique qualifications to set off a comeback and re-emerge itself as a top tourist destination in Taiwan. Furthermore, Taoyuan County soon will be the directly governed city and will become the only scenic district in Northern Taiwan with a natural ecosystems encompassing both the mountains and the water. It will be only a matter of time when Shihmen Reservoir returns to its past glory.
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