Wow! In 2024, over 4 million Taiwan compatriots visited the Chinese mainland, marking an impressive 54.3% increase from the previous year! 🌟🚢
According to Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, this surge highlights the growing connection across the Taiwan Strait. The Chinese mainland has been working hard to make it easier for Taiwan compatriots to work, study, and live, especially in Fujian Province.
Fujian, designated as a demonstration zone for cross-strait integrated development, welcomed 920,000 visits from Taiwan compatriots last year—a 53.3% jump compared to the previous year! 🏙️✨
Chen also mentioned that over the past year, 8,817 trips were made on direct routes between Fujian's coastal areas and Kinmen and Mazu, transporting over 1.37 million passengers. That's a year-on-year increase of 67.2% and 78.8%, respectively! 🚤🌊
The four direct passenger routes—Mawei to Mazu, Huangqi to Mazu, Quanzhou to Kinmen, and Xiamen to Kinmen—now operate up to 210 trips per week. Talk about building bridges (or in this case, sailing paths)! ⛴️🌉
Since resuming travel for Fujian residents to Mazu and Kinmen last year, Mazu has welcomed 193 group tourists and 885 individual tourists by the end of December. Kinmen saw even more: 2,834 group tourists and 39,751 individual tourists! 🧳🏝️
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced in late August 2024 that Fujian residents could once again travel to Kinmen, with the first tour group arriving in September. Mazu greeted its first tour group back in August. It's heartwarming to see these connections being strengthened! ❤️🤝
With the increasing number of trips and the revitalization of these routes, it's clear that the bond between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland is growing stronger than ever! 🌏✨
Reference(s):
2024: Taiwan residents make over 4 mln trips to mainland, up 54.3%
cgtn.com
