After 62 years, individual trips allowed between Beijing and Taipei
At least 290 tourists left mainland China for the island. The change was made possible by an agreement signed on 24 June by China and Taiwan. For now, the agreement affects only residents between Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen. Before the agreement, Chinese tourists were able to reach the island only in organised groups.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Xinhua) – About 290 travellers left the mainland for Taiwan on Tuesday as the first group of tourists to travel to the island using an individual visa. This was made possible by an agreement between the mainland-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) and its Taiwan counterpart, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), which exchanged written documents on Friday to confirm the schedule for a pilot travel programme for mainland individual tourists.
According to the agreement, the initial phase of the travel program will apply to residents of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
Previously, tourists were only allowed to travel in groups and had to follow pre-planned tour routes.
Ma Zhiqiang, general manager of the Xiamen Chunhui International Travel Service, said young and middle-aged people have been more interested in the individual tours.
"Young backpackers don't like to be restricted to group tour schedules, and they prefer to avoid crowded scenic spots and choose personalized itineraries," Ma said.
Elderly tourists prefer individual tours because the individual tour schedules allow them to spend more time with their relatives, said Chen Lianbao, an executive with the Xiamen C&D International Travel Service.
Since the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) fled to Formosa (Taiwan), where they moved the Republic of China. Since then, hundreds of divided families were unable to meet because relations between the two sides were cut off.
In the 1980s, Taiwan began a cautious process of rapprochement with the mainland. It lifted a ban on contacts with the People’s Republic in 1991 and authorised trade in 2001.
The thawing between China and Taiwan became official in 2008 when the two countries signed an historic agreement allowing tourism between the two sides with direct flights (on weekends) and more tourists between Beijing and Taipei (see “Direct weekly flights between Beijing and Taipei,” in AsiaNews, 13 June 2008).
According to the agreement, the initial phase of the travel program will apply to residents of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen.
Previously, tourists were only allowed to travel in groups and had to follow pre-planned tour routes.
Ma Zhiqiang, general manager of the Xiamen Chunhui International Travel Service, said young and middle-aged people have been more interested in the individual tours.
"Young backpackers don't like to be restricted to group tour schedules, and they prefer to avoid crowded scenic spots and choose personalized itineraries," Ma said.
Elderly tourists prefer individual tours because the individual tour schedules allow them to spend more time with their relatives, said Chen Lianbao, an executive with the Xiamen C&D International Travel Service.
Since the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) fled to Formosa (Taiwan), where they moved the Republic of China. Since then, hundreds of divided families were unable to meet because relations between the two sides were cut off.
In the 1980s, Taiwan began a cautious process of rapprochement with the mainland. It lifted a ban on contacts with the People’s Republic in 1991 and authorised trade in 2001.
The thawing between China and Taiwan became official in 2008 when the two countries signed an historic agreement allowing tourism between the two sides with direct flights (on weekends) and more tourists between Beijing and Taipei (see “Direct weekly flights between Beijing and Taipei,” in AsiaNews, 13 June 2008).
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