Taiwan sea trips passed

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-20  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

TAIWAN residents holding legal passes for cross-Strait travel were allowed as of yesterday to take direct sea voyages between Kinmen and Matsu islands and the mainland, Taiwan media said.

Taiwan authorities lifted the ban in Taipei yesterday. Previously, only Kinmen and Matsu residents were allowed to sail directly between those two points and the mainland.

According to the reports, airport and harbor facilities in those two parts of Taiwan will be improved based on the new travel policy.

Direct sailings started in January 2001. Three regular passenger routes operate between Kinmen, Matsu and three mainland ports of Xiamen, Mawei and Quanzhou in the coastal Fujian Province.

An occasional route links Kinmen with Meizhou, a popular religious site in Fujian.

The cost of cross-Straits travel will drop considerably if passengers fly to Kinmen or Matsu and sail to the mainland, travel analysts said.

They expected passenger numbers to increase about 20 percent during the next month.

They suggested Kinmen and Matsu also be developed as tourist attractions and into trans-shipment facilities for cross-Straits cargoes.

Kinmen Island is about 33km from Xiamen City and 296km from Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.

Matsu is about 28km from the Fujian coast and 211km from the main Taiwan island.