On January 17, China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced the resumption of group tours for residents of Fujian and Shanghai to Taiwan. This decision comes in response to strong demand from both Taiwanese citizens and the tourism industry for increased cross-strait exchanges. It marks the first resumption of group tours since their suspension over four years ago due to the pandemic. The move aims to normalize tourism between the mainland and Taiwan.

Previously, individual mainland tourist visits to Taiwan were suspended in August 2019 amid strained cross-strait relations, followed by a ban on group tours from the mainland imposed by Taiwan in 2020 in response to the pandemic. The new initiative is expected to help revive tourism, with Shanghai’s Vice Mayor Hua Yuan expressing optimism for a rise in mainland visitors to Taiwan in the near future. The suspension had severely impacted travel, with the number of mainland tourists to Taiwan reaching a historic low in 2020 and 2021.