Officials from the Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism and Travel Association, led by Tourism Bureau Chief Secretary Wu Chao-yen, left for Macau Thursday to attend the meeting with their counterparts from China's Cross-Strait Tourism Association.

Wu said the meeting will discuss the establishment of an information exchange platform and a transparent pricing system, in the interest of providing good quality tours for Chinese sightseers to Taiwan.

But, he added, the two sides will not touch on the issue of allowing Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan on their own, as the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council has not given permission for this topic to be included in the discussions.

At present, Chinese tourists are permitted to visit Taiwan only in groups of least five people.

Local small business owners have asked that the government remove the restriction, contending that allowing individual travelers from China to visit would help them earn more tourist dollars.

Tourism Bureau Deputy Director-General David Wei-chun Hsieh said Wednesday both Taiwan and China are amenable to working out some monitoring mechanisms to serve that end.

The two sides are planning to set up a platform for the exchange of information to jointly prevent tour agencies on either side from engaging in a price war, he said.

Growing numbers of Chinese tourists have been flocking to Taiwan in recent months amid improved cross-Taiwan Strait relations and it has been reported that some local travel agencies have slashed their prices to below the market price

to lure more Chinese tour groups.

To ensure the quality of the tours, the Tourism Bureau had mandated that Taiwan-based travel agencies charge Chinese tour groups no less than US$80 per person per day, but it later dropped the figure to US$60 at the request of local businesses.

Fielding questions from lawmakers at a meeting of the legislature's Transportation Committee yesterday, Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao Chi-kuo said travel agencies caught illegally operating low-end tours for Chinese sightseers will be seriously punished.

Mao reiterated that the existing daily ceiling on Chinese visitors to Taiwan would remain at 3,000 through the second half of the year to ensure tourism service quality.

Although the daily number of Chinese visitors had surged recently due to the May Day holiday, statistics provided by the Tourism Bureau show that an average of 2,500 Chinese per day will enter Taiwan in the upcoming week.

“At present, 3,000 Chinese tourists per day is all that Taiwan can handle, but the quota will be gradually increased, depending on the market situation, to ensure the tourism sector's long-term development,” Mao said over the weekend.

Speaking on the same occasion, Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai said the operations of five Taiwanese tour agencies have been suspended for one to two months because they violated the regulation.

Lai said an online monitoring network checking the number of Chinese tourists in major scenic spots across the country will be established to provide relevant government authorities and tour agencies with information in advance and help them make better arrangements to avoid overcrowding at the same spots.

Several lawmakers have asked the Tourism Bureau to strictly regulate the market so as to ensure the quality of the service offered in the tourism sector.

According to lawmaker Yeh Yi-jin, a six-day tour of Taiwan is being offered in China's Guangdong Province at NT$14,455 (US$437), which is half the normal market price.

Lawmaker Lo Shu-lei warned of severe consequences of such vicious competition, which she said could ruin Taiwan's tourism and image. She claimed that some Taiwanese travel agencies are also taking on Chinese tour groups at US$20 to US$30 per day per person.