Daily quota of Chinese tourists to be increased to 7,000 in May

Mainland travelers qualified for individual tours will also be expanded to include those from 10 cities as opposed to the present five.

The Tourism Bureau recently decided to increase the total allowable number of mainland tourists in tour groups to 5,000 a day from 4,000.

The bureau further decided to double the allowable amount of travelers going on individual tours to 2,000.

The control limits of incoming travelers from mainland China are necessary to help maintain the quality of service and facilities at popular scenic spots across the island, officials said.

Travel industry executives said yesterday that more major cities in the mainland have been competing against each other in order to make the list of areas in which residents are allowed to go on individual tours in Taiwan.

Frontrunners include large cities like Harbin, Dalian, Qingdao, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Ningbo, Changsa, and Kunmin.

Mainland China is currently Taiwan's largest supplier of tourists.

Officials at the National Immigration Agency (NIA) said that the number of travelers entering and leaving Taiwan hit another all-time high of more than 34.95 million people in 2012, up sharply by 3.74 million people from the previous year.

A record number of 26 million people traveled through Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last year, followed by Kaohsiung International Airport with 3.19 million people and Taipei Songshan International Airport with 2.74 million people.

According to the latest NIA statistics, people from mainland China, including Hong Kong and Macau, accounted for the largest number of visitors coming to Taiwan last year, followed by Japanese and American citizens.

Tourism officials expect more mainland tourists to visit Taiwan this year as several large Chinese enterprises have designated Taiwan for employee tours.

Mainland China ranked as one of the most popular tourist destinations, higher than both Japan and South Korea, for locals last year.

This indicates that Asian destinations remain favorites of Taiwanese travelers, said travel agents.

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