Individual travel by mainland tourists visiting Taiwan is now underway, after authorities approved the new pilot program on June 12th. Residents from mainland's three trial cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen -are taking their first solo trips by air and sea.

Taiwan is welcoming the first mainland visitors taking individual tours on a high note ...

And the excited travelers are quite eager to enjoy their trips.

"On my own trip, I can have more choices. Group tours are very exhausting for me. I will visit Ali Mountain and Sun Moon Lake."

"My girlfriend is from Taiwan. I will pay a visit to her family, especially my future parents-in-law. My trip to Taiwan will be a trip for love."

People on the island say they're fully prepared for the visitors.

Travel Agent, Taipei Lion Travel Services, said, "Most of the guests will take self-service tours. But we will help them with hotels, and recommend some delicacies. During the individual tours, we can also set up special arrangements for guests, according to their requests. So the trips are becoming more creative."

The first contingent of individual tourists include nearly 300 mainland residents from three trial cities -- Beijing, Shanghai, and Xiamen. They went to the island on 10 planes and one passenger ferry.

Since they only had a short time to prepare for the individual trips, after the scheme was approved, entry and exit procedures will continue to be handled in a group format until the end of July.

Mainland visitors have been major contributors to Taiwan tourism revenue, since the island widened its travel policies in 2008.

By the end of May, about 2.4 million mainland residents had visited Taiwan. Their trips have netted around 120 billion New Taiwan Dollars in revenue, or roughly 4 billion US dollars. Analysts say individual tours will not only enable a closer Cross-Strait relationship, but are also expected to further boost tourism on the island.

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