Taiwan to welcome individual travel from China

From 28 June 2011, individual travellers from mainland China will be allowed to visit Taiwan following the relaxing of a decades-old travel embargo to the island. The new pilot travel programme, announced at the Straits Forum by the director of China's Taiwan Affairs, Wang Yi, will initially apply to residents of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen, AFP reported.andnbsp; andnbsp;

According to the news agency, the two sides have also agreed to increase cross-strait passenger flights from 370 to 558 per week.Travel between China and Taiwan has skyrocketed since Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008, with a ban on mainland visitors to the island lifted that year.

According to government figures, China was the biggest source of visitors to Taiwan last year, with more than 1.63 million tourists visiting the island, an increase of 67 per cent on the year before.Although governed separately since 1949, Beijing still considers Taiwan a part of Chinese territory.

Source = etravelblackboardasia