In response to a report that Taiwan received less than half the expected number of mainland Chinese tourists since direct flight services were launched, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau has stated that the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan had increased fourfold since Taiwan tours were opened to mainland tourists in July 2008.

TTB said that 3,561 tour groups with a total of 91,274 tourists from the mainland have visited Taiwan since July last year and the number of mainland tourists that Taiwan receives daily has increased from 274 to more than 1,000, a fourfold increase. TTB said this increase is attributed to the direct flights and simplified procedures as well as the tourism marketing of Taiwan.

TTB said that to offer more convenience to Chinese mainland tourists, they have reduced the minimum number of tourists in a tour group from the original 10 to five and increased the time they can spend in Taiwan from 10 days to 15 days.

It is expected that the number of tourists from the mainland to Taiwan will further increase when 113 more authorized travel service providers and 12 mainland provinces whose citizens are allowed to visit Taiwan are formally initiated in the second half of March.

(China Hospitality News March 5, 2009)