The Chinese mainland and Taiwan signed a landmark agreement on Friday to allow mainland tourists to travel in Taiwan from next month.
The agreement, taking effect from June 20, will see the first tourist group arrive in Taiwan on July 18.
The two sides set a quota for the number of tourists in line with Taiwan's accommodation capacity and may be adjusted next year.
"A maximum of 3,000 mainland tourists can travel to Taiwan every day," the agreement says.
In the meantime, only groups of 10 to 40 tourists are allowed to travel to Taiwan, according to the agreement.
It also prescribes a maximum stay of 10 days for each group.
The two sides agreed on establishment of representative offices to handle tourism issues.
They pledged to simplify entry and exit procedures and protect mainland tourists' legal rights and safety.
"Any travel agency that impaired tourists' interests will be punished," the agreement says.
The Taiwan Strait Travel and Tourism Association will open an advice and complaints hotline for mainland tourists.
They also agreed to establish an emergency response system to settle disputes arising from tourism and handle emergency cases.
The mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait chairman Chen Yunlin and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Chiang Pin-kun signed the agreement around 9 a.m. on Friday.
The ARATS and SEF resumed talks for the first time in nine years on Thursday.
As early as May 2005, the mainland had announced plans to allow mainland tourists to visit Taiwan. In the following years, the mainland had strived to negotiate with related Taiwan non-governmental organizations. It even drafted regulations on allowing mainland tourists to travel to Taiwan.
However, then Taiwan leader Chen Shui-bian did not establish a non-governmental organization for technical consultations till Oct. 2006.
Since then, several technical consultations had been held without major progress due to political obstacles.
After Ma Ying-jeou took office as Taiwan leader, he took an active attitude towards the issue and proposed to allow in mainland tourists by July.
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