According to figures from the Cross-Straits Tourism Exchange Association (CTEA), 2010 saw a record number of Taiwan tourists visiting mainland China.
The figure recorded was at 5.14 million people, an increase of 14.6% from 2009, marking the first time the number of Taiwanese cross-strait tourists has exceeded five million in a single year.
This has translated to tourism revenues of approximately US$5.74 billion from Taiwanese visitors for 2010.
The record number has been attributed to a greater number of flight services and major events such as the World Expo in Shanghai and the …

Guam – More than 30 charter flights from mainland China and Taiwan scheduled for late January through early February could potentially bring 4,972 additional visitors to Guam for the holiday.
Scheduled charter flights via Continental Airlines from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Hangzhou alone will create 1,377 additional seats, despite a lack of direct flights from China. Another 3,595 seats are scheduled on charters from Taipei aboard China Airlines & Continental Airlines.
“We normally receive a number of charters during this time of year, but this is definitely an increase in potential seat …

Taipei, Dec. 9 (CNA) Small and medium-sized hotels in northern Taiwan, where Chinese tour groups usually base themselves, and their neighboring shops, are forecast to see a further business boom upon the anticipated opening to independent tourists from China, according to a local real estate broker.
Unrestricted by the constraints of traveling in tour groups, individual Chinese travelers can move around Taiwan more freely, which will help boost business for shops and malls near the hotels in which they stay, said Bright Lee, Evertrust Rehouse Co. company communications manager.
At present, Chinese …

Taiwan’s tourism business is posed to gain over US$40 million in revenue next year as mainland Chinese tourists will be allowed to Taiwan for individual visits starting Jan. 1, a local realty agency forecast.
Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau will launch its individual visit scheme for business tourists from Beijing and Shanghai at the start of next year, allowing a maximum of 500 individual tourists to enter Taiwan daily on top of the current quota for visitors in tour groups. The annual increase of mainland tourists can be over 180,000.
Taking into consideration an …

Taipei, Dec. 2 (CNA) Thousands of Chinese nationals visited Taiwan to have health checkups in the first eight months of this year, taking advantage of the medical tourism offered to Chinese tourists since 2008, a health official said Wednesday.
Tallies show that more than 3,000 Chinese who arrived as part of tour groups received health checkups during their visits to Taiwan in the eight months, said Shih Chung-liang, director of the Bureau of Medical Affairs under the Department of Health, at a conference on cross-Taiwan Strait medicine and healthcare cooperation.
Chinese visitors, …

The outbound tourism sector in Guangdong province is enjoying a busy winter season but tourists may have to shorten their shopping lists due to tougher customs regulations.
Although the Christmas-New Year shopping bargains available in overseas destinations are still attracting Chinese tourists, holidaymakers will have to adjust to tighter limits imposed by customs this year.
Chinese customs authorities have reinstated the 5,000-yuan ($750) limit for customs duty exemption and stepped up inspections against smuggling at some checkpoints, such as those in the Guangdong cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai, which border Hong Kong …

Taiwanese government officials said the the country will welcome its 5 millionth visitor by the end of the month, a sign of how far the tiny island has grown in prominence on the tourism stage.
Taiwan’s premier Wu-Den-yih said that the 5 millionth arrival will be a “magic number” for Taiwan, which expects to welcome a total of between 5.3 and 5.5 million visitors in total this year.
The country has set itself ambitious tourism targets, aiming for a whopping six million visitors in 2011, with China accounting for a growing proportion …

BEIJING, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) — Some 1.2 million mainlanders will visit Taiwan in 2010, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council forecast Wednesday.
Spokeswoman Fan Liqing said the mainland-based Cross-Strait Tourism Exchange Association and the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association (TSTA) will meet in the near future to discuss issues concerning mainland tourists’ individual visits to the island.
“Both sides are researching the possibility of travel to the island by mainland individuals,” Fan said at a news conference.
Figures from the TSTA show 979,000 mainland tourists had visited Taiwan as …

Lin Cheng-ming runs a small souvenir shop in Hengchuen Town on the southernmost tip of Taiwan. This year, he began to accept the Renminbi, the mainland’s currency, from his customers.
Although the Renminbi and the New Taiwan dollar cannot be directly exchanged, Lin wanted to make mainland tourists feel comfortable.
“We also began accepting (the mainland-based) UnionPay cards late last year,” Lin said.
A group of mainland tourists arrived in Taiwan in July 2008. They were the first mainland tourists to visit Taiwan since the two sides split amid civil war 59 years …

The Visa and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Asia Pacific Travel Intentions Survey 2010 has found mainland Chinese travelers plan to travel most out of all Greater China travelers.
The Survey, which was conducted in May 2010 and interviewed 1,571 people in the Greater China region, found that on average, mainland Chinese travelers are planning for 7.4 business and leisure trips in the next two years, compared with the 5.6 and 4.5 trips anticipated by Hong Kong and Taiwanese travelers.
The results also show that Greater China travelers are less affected by …

At the second Straits Forum in Fujian, a Taiwanese tour operator said visitors from the Chinese mainland will soon be allowed to travel to Taiwan, alone.
Currently, mainland visitors have to book through an agent and travel with a group.
Zeng Junxiong, Executive Director of China Straits Culture Tourism Assoc. said “By the end of the year, tourists from the mainland will be permitted to travel to Taiwan on their own. The new regulation will bring a new wave of mainland visitors to Taiwan. A platform like the Strait Forum attracts many …

An estimated 650,000 mainland Chinese tourists have visited Taiwan since a travel ban was lifted nearly two years ago
The topic of outbound tourists from mainland China is a hot one on travel industry websites, and with the latest figures coming out of Taiwan it’s pretty easy to see why. According to China Knowledge, since the lifting of the travel ban on mainland tourists in June 2008, more than US$1.3 billion has been spent in Taiwan by mainlanders — some $63 million of that having been spent by the nearly 40,000 tourists …