Nearby Tourist Destinations Attracting Chinese Visitors

Tourists from Chinese mainland have become the most welcomed consumers to many nearby destinations. The first group of individual tourists to Taiwan will take off tomorrow. In order to lure more Chinese travelers, Japan has loosened up visa policies to allow multiple entries to the country.

Let's take a closer look with reporter Liu Min.

Chinese mainland tourists form the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen will be able to take individual tours in Taiwan starting from this Tuesday. Manager Hong Huochun from Xiamen Jianfa International Travel Services says tourists from Xiamen represent half of the total number of the first batch of individual visitors.

"Xiamen is very near to Taiwan. An old saying goes Fujian Province and Taiwan are family, so more people from Xiamen have applied for such tours."

The trial program requires individual visitors to apply for entry approvals, buy air tickets, and make hotel reservations through mainland travel services. But once they arrive in Taiwan, they can arrange their own travel routes and schedules. The cost of these individual tours is much higher than group trips; however, many visitors claim they want to have more freedom.

"My son is studying in Taiwan. I haven't seen him for half a year. I'm taking this opportunity to spend some time with him."

"My main purpose is to visit our family members in Taiwan and we haven't seen each other for several decades. 11 members of my family from the mainland have all signed up for the tour. We are quite excited that we can finally meet them."

Taiwan has become a popular travel destination for mainland tourists after its local authorities eliminated a travel ban for mainland group visitors in July 2008. The number of mainland tourists traveling to Taiwan in groups totaled 2.34 million as of the end of this May, bringing an estimated 110 billion New Taiwan dollars or 3.8 billion U.S. dollars to the island.

However, tourists were only allowed to travel in groups and must follow tour routes planned by travel agencies. Industry insiders believe that the launch of the individual travel program will further boost cross-Strait tourism. Vice President of China Youth Travel Zhang Lijun says as more cities come into trial programs later, the cost of individual tours will also be deducted.

"Travelers to Taiwan will have more free choices as time passes. In the future, travelers can also book hotels and order air tickets by themselves."

At the same time, another nearby tourist destination, Japan, is trying hard to attract more Chinese mainland travelers. It used to issue single entry tourist visa for Chinese mainlanders for three months valid period at most. Starting from July, the visa duration times for for individual travelers to Japan can be extended to up to three years with multiple entries.
But the three year long term visa has a precondition. Manager Zhang Li from the travel service website Mangocity.com explains Okinawa must be included in the tour.

"The three-year visa requires that travelers from China have to visit Japan's Okinawa during their first trip to the country. But you don't have to enter Japan through the city. Just make sure your travel route includes the city and you need to stay over for one night at least."

The earthquake this March greatly hurt Japan's tourism industry. Tourism Experts say currently the Japanese government is trying to explore tour market in Southern Japan and they want to attract more visitors from China to boost the local economy.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.