Taiwan strengthens tourism promotion on mainland

XIAMEN - Taiwan's tourism authorities are boosting their promotional attempts to lure mainland tourists amid a steady increase in such travelers.

The latest promotion came on the weekend on the sidelines of the fourth Straits Forum in the port city of Xiamen in Southeast China's Fujian province, as snacks, scenic postcards and a folk dancing show were displayed to woo travellers in the mainland.

Taiwan's three outlying islands - Kinmen, Penghu and Matzu - and the Tainan city introduced their scenic spots, special local products and investment credentials to some 400 participants of the forum.

A fair featuring more than 100 kinds of Taiwanese snacks, handicrafts, as well as its folk performance was held in Xiamen.

Lin Kuo-Hua, deputy director of Tainan city's tourism bureau and the organizer of the fair, said Tainan has beautiful landscape and delicious food, as well as deep-seated traditional culture. He said he will come to the mainland again in the next month to promote medical tourism.

With more direct flights operating across the Taiwan Straits and policies favorable to cross-Straits exchanges, recent times have witnessed a steady increase in Taiwan's tourists from the mainland.

In late April, residents in six mainland cities were given official permission to visit Taiwan individually under a cross-Straits agreement, adding to the previously approved cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.

According to the Beijing office of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association, a total of 1.06 million mainlanders visited Taiwan from January to May this year, a 48-percent rise compared to the same period of last year.

"The mainland has a population of more than 1.3 billion, so we need to increase promotional events for the tourism of Tainan," said Lin.

Li Wo-shi from Kinmen county, which is geographically close to Xiamen, said the county strengthened its promotional efforts in the mainland last year, when he traveled to four mainland cities to promote Kinmen's tourism and investment.

"We've been to Qingdao last month and three areas of Fujian province for tourism promotion, and we won wide responses there," said Li.

"All walks of Taiwan's society appreciate policies that are favorable to cross-Straits tourism, as tourists bring not only benefits to various industries, but also mutual understanding among people," said Lin.

He added that the number of mainland travelers to Tainan is on the rise, with more than 300,000 visiting the city both in groups and individually.

"We are expecting a boom in the number of mainland travelers," added Chen Ren-He, head of the Penghu Tourism Association. "We are ready to cooperate with our mainland counterparts to provide more services to tourists."