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100,000 trips made by mainland visitors to Taiwan

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-14 21:31

BEIJING -- More than 100,000 trips have been made by Chinese mainland visitors to Taiwan from last July until March 12, the Cross-straits Tourism Exchange Association said Saturday.

Since Taiwan was opened to mainland tourists last July, 4,105 tourist groups have visited the island, with an average of 447 daily arrivals.

The number of mainland tourists surged in March, with an average of more than 1,000 trips registered every day after residents from another 12 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, including Sichuan, Henan and Heilongjiang, were given permission to visit Taiwan on January 20.

Previously, only 13 mainland provinces and municipalities were allowed to visit the island under an agreement signed last June by the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation.

The number of travel agencies has increased from 33 to 146. The newly added 113 travel agencies will start organizing tourist groups at the end of the month, when the numbers of Chinese mainland travelers is expected to surge.

According to a sample survey done by the Taiwan tourist authorities, 86 percent of mainland tourists were "satisfied" with the Taiwan trips.

"Taiwan has been working on new measures to increase mainland tourism, which may include cutting tour prices and increasing the number of Taiwan hotels that accept mainland visitors," Taiwan's Travel Agent Association director general Yao Daguang said.