Mainland, Taiwan fix individual travel program schedule
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Xinhua, June 21, 2011
Authorized organizations from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan exchanged written documents Tuesday to confirm the schedule of a pilot travel program that will allow mainlanders to visit Taiwan as individual tourists.
The mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and its Taiwan counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) also exchanged documents confirming other previous agreements, including additional cross-Strait direct flights.
The mainland and Taiwan previously reached these agreements during the annual Strait Forum, which was held in the mainland's coastal city of Xiamen in southeast Fujian Province from June 11 to 17 this year.
According to the agreements, the first group of individual mainland tourists will set out for Taiwan on June 28.
The agreements also said that the initial phase of the travel program will apply to residents of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
The island became a popular travel destination for mainland tourists after Taiwan lifted a travel ban for mainland group visitors in July 2008.
The number of Chinese mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan in groups totaled 2.34 million as of the end of May, bringing an estimated 110 billion New Taiwan dollars (3.8 billion U.S. dollars) to the island.
However, tourists are currently only allowed to travel in groups and must follow preplanned tour routes.
Industry insiders believe that the launch of the individual travel program will further boost cross-Strait tourism.
The China Youth Travel Service, a major travel service provider on the mainland, has opened online registration for individual tours. The company has already registered 6,000 customers for trips to Taiwan.
Tourism industry insiders in Taiwan are eagerly expecting individual visitors from the mainland.
Taiwan has created 18 tour itineraries for individual mainland travellers. The itineraries are designed to provide visitors with an in-depth experience of the island's urban life, as well as its culture and history, said Yang Ruizong, head of the Beijing office of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.
Industry insiders are now calling for the mainland and Taiwan to extend the pilot program to people in other cities.
