[Taiwan statistics: The number of Taiwanese people visiting the mainland in the first eight months increased by nearly 20% year-on-year] October 17th, the latest statistics from Taiwan’s tourism department showed that from January to August this year, a total of 2.492 million Taiwanese people visited the mainland, a year-on-year increase of 19.63%. Cross-strait personnel exchanges have maintained a considerable scale and are showing a growth trend. Statistics show that from January to August this year, mainland China firmly ranked as the second largest outbound tourism destination for Taiwanese people. Looking at monthly data, the average number of visits to mainland China in a single month from March to August exceeded 300,000, with double-digit growth year-on-year in each month. Among them, the number of visits to mainland China in March increased by 32.34% year-on-year. It is worth noting that during the same period, the overall number of outbound trips by Taiwanese people increased by 15.24% year-on-year, and the increase in outbound trips to the mainland was higher than the overall increase in outbound trips, showing strong market demand. (Xinhua News Agency)