Taiwan’s Want Daily reported that 10 more cities will be added to the list of mainland cities allowed to send independent travelers to Taiwan when the fifth group of approved cities is announced at the end of the year. The newly approved cities, will likely include provincial capitals Haikou, Lanzhou, Yingchuan and Hohhot and will boost the number of approved cities to 46 cities.
The addition of 10 cities and the possibility of the opening up of more cities within this year was first announced at the “Sixth Roundtable talks on Taiwan Strait Tourism Exchanges” jointly held by Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Association for Tourism Exchange across the Taiwan Straits last July. The news is welcomed by the Taiwanese tourism industry.
A source in the industry said that the inclusion among the 10 new cities of the four provincial capitals means that almost all mainland provincial capitals are opened to independent travel to Taiwan, with the exception of Xinjiang’s Urumqi and Tibet’s Lhasa.
Apart from the four provincial capitals, Guilin and Changzhou are likely to be included, as are other cities in the coastal provinces of Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Suzhou and Shandong. Jiangsu will likely have two cities on the list and the industry source said that there is chance for a few “dark horse” entries.
Taiwan Tourism Bureau’s vice chairman Chang Hsi-tsung declined to confirm the exact time table for the announcement of the newly approved cities or how many will be included in the list, stating only that both sides are still working out the final details and the there is a chance the list will be released within this year.(Translation by David)
