Taiwan allows higher quotas, longer visits for mainland tourists

Industrial and commercial organizations with an annual turnover of more than 30 million New Taiwan dollars (883,260 U.S. dollars) would have the number of invited mainlanders increased from 50 to 200, while the number for those below 30 million New Taiwan dollars would rise to 45 from 15, said the reports.

Local authorities were also planning to shorten the approval time for applications of mainland businessmen from one month to two weeks.

More than 174,000 Chinese mainland tourists visited Taiwan from July last year till early April, according to mainland statistics.

The daily number of mainland visitors to the island on organized trips reached about 3,000 at the end of March, he said, adding that the number soared to more than 4,000 on April 7.

The Chinese mainland and Taiwan agreed to allow mainland tourist groups travel to the island after a meeting between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait chairman Chen Yunlin and the Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Chiang Pin-kun in June last year. The first tourist group arrived in Taiwan on July 4.

Editor:Liu Anqi