Fifty travel agencies across the Taiwan Straits gathered in Fuzhou City of east China's Fujian Province on Monday to discuss cross-Straits tourism.

There is surging demand from mainland residents to tour the island of Taiwan.

The meeting, arranged by the Fujian Provincial Tourism Association (FPTA), attracted 29 travel agencies from Taiwan and 21 from Fujian.

It is the first time travel organizations from Fujian Province and Taiwan have met since the mainland gave green light to trips to Taiwan in May.

According to sources with the FPTA, participants from both sides of the Taiwan Straits agreed to develop the most "convenient, efficient and attractive" tourist products and pledged to strengthen cooperation in sharing information and designing special tourist routes for mainland travelers.

Representatives of the 50 travel agencies also agreed to establish a special Fujian-Taiwan travel zone and plan to launch five or ten-day travel routes linking Fujian's Xiamen City with Taiwan through Jinmen and Fuzhou with Taiwan respectively.

Participants are still discussing policy and technical specifics.

(Xinhua News Agency June 7, 2005)