Demand increases for direct flights to Taiwan in western regions

Citizens in mainland China are increasingly looking forward to travel in Taiwan and direct cross-strait flights routes in western regions are seeing greater demand, according to a Taiwan tourism quality explanation meeting held in Beijing on Sept. 2.

The Beijing Office of Taiwan Cross-Strait Tourism Association invited tourism department officers from six provinces that have recently opened tourist routes to Taiwan to participate in the meeting.

Officials from the National Tourism Administration also attended the meeting.

On July 18, Taiwan tourism for residents of six provincial administrative units, which included Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Tibet Autonomous Region, Gansu Province, Qinghai Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, was officially opened.

Thus all provinces and regions of the mainland have been opened to Taiwan tourism, and the number of travel agencies also increased to 164.

Yang Ruizong, director of the Beijing Office of Taiwan Cross-Strait Tourism Association said at the meeting that data showed in the first half of this year, the eight-day island travel package, representing a 58.6 percent of the total, were the most favored travel products among mainland tourists.

He said that although trips covering the whole island were the most popular products, theme products were successively marketed, which means more diversified itineraries.

Yang said under joint efforts of both sides of the straits, the number of mainland tourists to Taiwan was expected to witness steady growth with improved tourism quality. He said the current comprehensive island trip will be advanced into regional tours, theme tours and depth tours.

Senior officers of the China Comfort Travel, one of China's leading travel agencies, from Gansu and Xinjiang all expressed expectations of more direct cross-strait flights routes in western regions in the future to help local citizens to travel to Taiwan.

Officials from the Jiangsu Provincial Tourism Bureau were invited to introduce experiences on organizing Taiwan tourism at the meeting.

By Li Mu, People's Daily Online