Residents from 12 additional provinces on the Chinese mainland were permitted to tour Taiwan starting Tuesday, the mainland-based Cross-Strait Tourism Communication Association said.

Previously mainland residents from only 13 provinces and municipalities were allowed to visit Taiwan on chartered flights. That began July 18 last year, under an agreement signed last June between the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan's Strait Exchange Foundation.

The cross-Strait tourism association said in a Tuesday notice that the initial step has been progressing in an orderly way and it promoted the common prosperity and development of tourism sectors on both the mainland and Taiwan.

The recent addition of terminals for cross-Strait chartered flights from five to 21 has further facilitated business of mainland tourists visiting Taiwan, it said.

In view of these factors, 12 more provinces and autonomous regions including Hebei, Shanxi and Guangxi were opened for the Taiwan travel.

With this expansion, more travel agencies would be authorized to manage Taiwan tours, the association promised.

Before July 18 last year, mainland residents could only visit Taiwan for a limited number of reasons, such as business.

Initially, tourism operators complained of lower-than-expected mainland tourist visits. That changed when the number of terminals for cross-Strait flights increased.

Operators expected the new move to become another catalyst.

(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2009)