Xiamen travel group arrives in Kinmen for 3-day familiarization trip

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) A group of travel industry representatives from China's Xiamen City arrived in Taiwan's outlying Kinmen County on Wednesday for a three-day familiarization tour, the county's Deputy Magistrate Li Wen-liang (李文良) said that day.

The group, led by Lin Fung (林峰), the Xiamen Tourism Association secretary general, arrived at Kinmen's Shuitou Pier earlier in the day. They were greeted by officials including Li, Kinmen County Council Speaker Hung Yun-tien (洪允典) and several councilors.

Li welcomed the group and said he looks forward to hearing their feedback and suggestions which will help the Kinmen government enhance and strengthen its travel industry in preparation for the return of Chinese tour groups after a five-year hiatus.

The group's arrival came after China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced on Aug. 30 that China would soon lift restrictions on group and independent travel for residents in Fujian province to Kinmen.

This followed a meeting between several Kinmen County councilors -- all among those greeting the group on Wednesday -- and Song Tao (宋濤), director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, on Aug. 22 in Beijing.

China halted independent travel to Taiwan on Aug. 1, 2019, citing the poor state of cross-strait relations. It then suspended group travel to other countries in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began.

The Xiamen group's first stop was the Shuitou settlement in Jincheng township, famous for its traditional Minnan-style architecture.

Over the next two days, the group will visit sites such as Shanhou Folk Culture Village, Chen Jing-lan Western-style House and Tianpu Reservoir, which draws water from Longhu Lake in Fujian, China.

The itinerary also includes an exchange meeting with the Kinmen County Travel Agency Association.

According to Li, Kinmen has received the application from the first group of tourists set to visit since the hiatus. If all goes to plan, they could arrive as early as Sept. 22 or 23.

Li added that if travel resumes smoothly, it could help increase the number of tourists visiting Kinmen via the cross-strait ferry services under the "mini-three links" to pre-pandemic levels of around 400,000 to 450,000 a year.

According to Kinmen's Tourism Department, the mini-three links between Kinmen and Xiamen, which were suspended due to COVID-19, finally resumed on Jan. 7, 2023.

As of the end of August 2024, over 1.5 million passengers, the majority Taiwanese, had traveled between Kinmen and Xiamen via the mini-three links, with 800,000 of those trips occurring in 2024.

The department added that this suggests as long as both governments across the Taiwan Strait agree to lift restrictions and allow Chinese residents to visit Kinmen via the mini-three links, tourism could return to pre-pandemic levels.