TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Kuomintang (KMT) delegation arrived in Beijing on Thursday (Aug. 22) to promote travel to Taiwan, beginning with Kinmen County. 

The delegation, which consists of Kinmen councilors, tourism agencies, and the Travel Quality Assurance Association (TQAA), will meet with China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) to urge China to ease travel restrictions to Taiwan. The lawmakers said Beijing could start by allowing tourism to Kinmen, situated only three km from China. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic, cross-strait tourism stalled for three years, per CNA. Beginning in August, China started allowing group tours to Taiwan’s Matsu Islands, and Taiwanese lawmakers hope tourism to Kinmen will follow. 

The lawmakers hope the restrictions can be lifted by China's National Day on Oct. 1. This marks China’s week-long holiday, where many people will have off from work for tourism and family reunions. 

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has proposed that if China allows its tourists to visit Taiwan, Taiwan will allow organized tour groups by Taiwanese travel agencies to China. In addition, the delegation will propose related issues to Kinmen’s economic development, including seeking China’s agreement on an agricultural and fishery product joint trading platform, permitting Chinese students to study in Kinmen, and allowing Kinmen-based financial institutions to operate in the nearby Chinese city of Xiamen. 

Speaking to reporters before the trip, KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) said that allowing Chinese tourists to Kinmen would “accumulate goodwill between the people of Taiwan and China, allowing the two sides to move towards the full resumption of cross-strait tourism.”