The number of Chinese mainland tourists visiting Taiwan in the first three months of this year has increased 45 percent to 767,400 over the same period of last year, the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office announced today.

Fan Liqing, a Taiwan affairs office spokeswoman, said the rise in the number of mainland Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan could be attributed to the efforts of the mainland to make cross-Strait travel more convenient.

Like Us on Facebook

From January to March of this year, individual Chinese tourists who visited Taiwan reached 252,200, representing a 176-percent rise from a year ago. Chinese travelers who arrived in Taiwan through organized group package tours increased to 515,200 during the same period.

"The first three months of this year have seen a continuous rise in the number of tourists from mainland China to Taiwan," Fan said in a press conference.

Fan added that the number of mainland Chinese tourists is even expected to increase in the next few months. In fact, for the month of May, tours to Taiwan have been fully booked in advance. Fan said this is a sign of the growing interest of mainland Chinese tourists to visit the island.

The spokeswoman, however, urged mainland Chinese tourists to behave and show good manners while in Taiwan.

Last March, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau said it has decided to raise the daily quote for mainland Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan to 4,000 from 3,000 as part its effort to further increase its tourism receipts.

Chinese tourists are now the target of most countries around the world as experts earlier predicted that more than 100 million Chinese citizens will be travelling abroad this year. 

To better lure tourists, several countries, including those in Europe and North America, are offering easy Visa application procedures and affordable tour packages.

TagsTaiwan Tourism, Chinese Tourists, Taiwan Tourists