A total of 2.19 million Chinese mainland tourists visited Taiwan in 2013, up from 1.97 million in 2012, an official said on Feb 27.

Nearly a quarter of the Chinese mainland tourists to Taiwan last year were individual travelers, said Shao Qiwei, chairman of the Cross-Straits Tourism Communication Association of the Chinese mainland, at the opening ceremony of a cross-Straits tourism industry meeting held in Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province.

Taiwan opened to group tourists from the Chinese mainland in 2008, and to individuals in 2011.

The total number of Chinese mainland visitors who have traveled to Taiwan exceeded 7.2 million at the end of 2013, according to Shao.

"We hope that cross-Straits tourism exchanges will be deepened and enhanced in the future," he added.

The two sides are expected to negotiate the opening of 15 more Chinese mainland cities for individual Taiwan tours by April, according to Lai Zhengyi, president of the Taiwan Tourist Hotel Association.

The number of direct flights is expected to reach 828 a week – and Taiwan will allow a maximum of 5,000 Chinese mainland tourists each day, Lai told reporters on Feb 20.

The Taiwan Tourism Bureau said that it will "push for" opening tours to another 15 Chinese mainland cities – and it also stressed that the "quality" of tourists should be improved.

Xinhua contributed to this story