The Chinese free independent travelers (FIT) program will take effect today, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said yesterday, as it completed final preparations with the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS).
SEF Deputy Secretary-General Maa Shaw-chang (馬紹章) confirmed that the two sides completed the exchange of official documents on cross-strait air transport and Chinese residents’ visits to Taiwan, and the FIT program will officially launch today.
An increase in the number of cross-strait flights and their destinations would take effect later, he added.
“As to when individual Chinese tourists will actually start to visit Taiwan, the two sides have reached a consensus that the starting day for the visit of individual tourists will be June 28,” he said.
Maa said the actual number of FITs allowed to visit Taiwan each day would be flexible because Taiwan could make necessary adjustments. Applicants for individual visits must either be students older than 18 or non-students who are at least 20 years old, and each visit will be limited to a maximum of 15 days.
According to a previous plan, a maximum of 500 Chinese from Shanghai, Beijing and Xiamen per day will be eligible to visit Taiwan as independent tourists.
Residents from Fujian Province will be able to travel as individuals to Kinmen and Matsu.
The two sides also said they would increase the number of cross-strait flights from the current 370 per week to 558 or more in view of the larger number of Chinese tourists heading to Taiwan.
Maa said the number of cross-strait cargo flights would also increase from 52 to 56 per week.
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