China announced on Monday that it will allow the citizens of six more provinces to visit Taiwan starting on July 18.
That means that people from all 31 of China’s provinces will be permitted to travel to Taiwan.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency said on Tuesday that it would continue to allow up to 7,200 Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan on special days until June 30.
A high-ranking immigration official, Chang Chi, explained the agency’s policy when it comes to limits on the number of tourist visits from China. He said, “We say 7,200 for special holidays and festivals, not for normal days. Basically for normal days we say a daily figure of 3,000. Why 3,000? The most important thing is we have to take into consideration the rights of the people of Taiwan travelling within Taiwan. Also, we do not want to overcrowd the tourist sites with Chinese tourists.”
While there has been an increase in the number of tourist visits from China, the immigration agency says that the daily quotas are not always met. The total number of visitors so far this year has fallen short of the available number of entry applications by 167,000 people. The agency says that it will allow those unused applications to be used on other days ahead of June 30.