Cross-Strait ferry trips exceed 1m

With the increasing exchanges between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, the number of tourists commuting by ferry this year between Xiamen in East China's Fujian province and Jinmen Island off the southeast coast, a major means of cross-Strait travel, has exceeded one million, with over 90 percent inbound from Taiwan.

As of Saturday, border inspection authorities in Xiamen have inspected and released over 5,000 ferry trips between Xiamen and Jinmen this year, with a total of one million passengers entering and exiting the port, according to data from local border inspection authorities.

Since October, with the flourishing of cross-Strait activities and personnel exchanges, the passenger flow has grown rapidly on the ferry route. The average daily passenger flow in October was nearly 4,000, representing a more than 25 percent increase compared to the previous month. On Oct 20, the number of passengers entering and exiting on a single day exceeded 5,100, reaching a new high since the resumption of ferry operations in 2023, according to local authorities.

Local border inspection stations provide passengers with facial recognition passage and dialect services to enhance the port clearance experience.

To facilitate exchanges between people across the Strait, the mainland has increased the number of ferry services between Fujian and Taiwan this year. There are currently over 200 ferry trips each week on routes from Fuzhou to Matsu, Quanzhou to Jinmen and Xiamen to Jinmen.

To attract Taiwan tourists, nearly 2,500 mainland attractions have launched promotions for first-time Taiwan visitors, including free admission within a year to Taiwan visitors who obtain their travel permits for the first time.

According to data from the National Immigration Administration last month, 994,000 travel permits have been issued for Taiwan residents to visit the mainland this year. Additionally, a total of 2.96 million entries have been made by Taiwan individuals into the mainland, a year-on-year increase of 68.4 percent.