Taiwan Residents Make Over 4 Million Trips to Chinese Mainland in 2024, Up 54%
Taiwan residents made more than 4.02 million trips to the Chinese mainland in 2024, marking a significant 54.3 percent increase from the previous year, a mainland spokesperson announced on Wednesday.
Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, highlighted at a regular press conference that the mainland has consistently worked to facilitate personnel exchanges across the Taiwan Strait. Efforts have been particularly focused on supporting Taiwan residents in working, studying, and living in southeastern Fujian Province.
Fujian Province, designated as a demonstration zone for cross-strait integrated development, witnessed 920,000 trips by Taiwan residents in the past year, representing a 53.3 percent year-on-year increase. The province has been at the forefront of fostering closer ties and integration between the two sides.
“Direct transportation routes between Fujian’s coastal areas and Kinmen and Mazu have significantly boosted cross-strait connectivity,” Chen noted. “In the past year, 8,817 trips were operated on these routes, transporting over 1.37 million passengers. These figures reflect impressive year-on-year increases of 67.2 percent in trips and 78.8 percent in passenger numbers.”
The four direct passenger routes—Mawei to Mazu, Huangqi to Mazu, Quanzhou to Kinmen, and Xiamen to Kinmen—currently operate up to 210 trips per week, facilitating convenient travel for residents on both sides of the strait.
Since the resumption of travel for Fujian residents to Mazu and Kinmen last year, Mazu has received 193 group tourists and 885 individual tourists by the end of December. Kinmen welcomed 2,834 group tourists and 39,751 individual tourists, according to Chen.
In late August 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the resumption of travel for Fujian residents to Kinmen, with the first tour group arriving in September. Mazu welcomed its first tour group in August last year, marking a milestone in renewed cross-strait tourism.
The surge in travel and tourism underscores the growing people-to-people connections and economic integration between the Chinese mainland and the Taiwan region, fostering mutual understanding and development.
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2024: Taiwan residents make over 4 mln trips to mainland, up 54.3%
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