TAIPEI: Travel associations in Taiwan and the mainland are expected to open semi-official tourism liaison offices on each other's soil, maybe on the same day. However, some technical problems must be solved first, an official of Taiwan's Tourism Bureau said yesterday.

The Taipei-based Taiwan Strait Tourism Association and the Cross-Straits Tourism Exchange Association in Beijing will hold talks in the coming days to discuss issues related to setting up the liaison offices in Beijing and Taipei, respectively, according to Wayne Liu, secretary-general of the bureau and executive secretary of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association.

The two associations are semi-official organizations set up to promote tourism between Taiwan and the mainland.

Liu said he expects the two associations to open their offices on the same day and that both Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai and Shao Qiwei, chairman of the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), hope to attend the two opening ceremonies in Taiwan and on the mainland.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 02/26/2010 page3)