Four more Chinese cities have been included in the free independent travelers (FIT) program, the Tourism Bureau said, following a meeting attended by tourism officials from Taiwan and China at the annual Cross-Strait Tourism Round-Table Conference in Greater Kaohsiung on Wednesday.
Currently, only Chinese from Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Tianjin, Chongqing, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu are allowed to visit Taiwan as FITs. Residents of other cities in China can only come with tour groups.
Tourism Bureau director general David Hsieh (謝謂君) said that both sides have agreed to add four more Chinese cities in the FIT program: Jinan, Xian, Fuzhou and Shenzhen.
“We [Taiwan and China] have also reached consensus that the Chinese tourists from these four cities can start coming on Aug. 28,” Hsieh said.
Meanwhile, both Taiwan and China have decided to expand cross-strait tourism exchanges through the “small three links,” through which Chinese tourists are allowed to visit the nation’s outlying islands of Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu.
Apart from residents of nine cities in China’s Fujian Province, Hsieh said residents of 11 other cities in Zhejiang, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces are allowed to travel to the three outlying islands. The new policy will also take effect on Aug. 28.
Hsieh said that an average of 157 Chinese FITs visited Taiwan per day when the nation began implementing the Chinese FIT program last year. The number quickly climbed to average 500 daily between January and June this year. Shao Qiwei (邵琪偉), chairman of China’s National Tourism Administration, said his agency estimated that 13 million people would travel between Taiwan and China by 2016 and the number of Chinese tourists traveling to Taiwan could potentially top 7 million.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS