Society

More mainland regions to gain travel access to Taiwan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-05-08 09:34

TAIPEI - Mainland residents in six more provinces and autonomous regions will be allowed to travel to Taiwan, sources with the mainland-based Cross-Straits Tourism Exchange Association (CTEA) have said.

The six regions are the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, according to CTEA president Shao Qiwei.

The mainland would introduce more measures to promote visits to the island by mainlanders, Shao said Friday at the founding ceremony of the association's Taipei office.

Shao expected more than one million mainland tourists would visit the island in 2010.

The island attracted 606,000 mainland tourists in 2009.

Shao also revealed that the CTEA was considering the possibility of individual trips to the island.

"When the market becomes mature and various requirements are met, we will launch pilot individual travel programs," he said, without giving further details.

Also on Friday, representatives from 106 villages and towns in southeastern Fujian Province signed a cooperation agreement with counterparts of 100 Taiwan villages and towns in the island's central Nantou County, aiming to deepen exchange and cooperation in areas such as tourism and farm product processing.