The number of tourists travelling across the Taiwan Strait increased sharply in the first half of the year, after the two sides' tourism industries launched major marketing campaigns.

The number of mainland tourists to Taiwan totaled 707,400 people in the first seven months of the year, double that of the same period last year, said Man Hongwei, secretary general of the mainland-based Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Strait (ATEATS), at a press conference in Taipei on Thursday.

The number of Taiwanese travelers to the mainland reached 2.47 million in the first half, a year-on-year rise of 17.13 percent, said Man, who is in Taipei to attend the fifth Taipei Cross-Strait Travel Fair that begins Friday.

"Tourism has become one of the backbone cross-Strait industries," he said.

"The tourism industries of both sides should consider closer cooperation, instead of simply operating travel packages," he added.

The mainland has sent a delegation of about 1,200 members from 31 provincial divisions to the travel fair. They will operate 366 booths in an exhibition area of 8,000 square meters.

Taiwan is an important market for the mainland's tourism industry and the number of Taiwan tourists to the mainland is expected to top 5 million this year, Man said.

However, he added, "Although the number of Taiwan tourists has increased steadily in the past two decades, lots of Taiwan people have never been to the mainland. As far as we know, less than one third of Taiwanese people have held a travel pass to the mainland."

He expects to inform more Taiwanese people about mainland tourist destinations through the fair.

The four-day fair was previously a sub-fair of the Taipei International Travel Fair. But this year it is an independent event, said C.S. Chou, chairman of Taiwan Visitors Association jointly sponsoring the fair with the ATEATS.

"Thanks to recovering economies on both sides and an increasing number of direct flights, cross-Strait tourism has developed fast," Chou said.

"As the two sides share the same language and culture and because travel costs are comparatively low, the number of cross-Strait travelers will continue to increase."

Taiwan travel agencies, airline companies and hotels will have 516 booths at the fair.

"We hope to meet more mainland counterparts. The two sides can share more information about travel package design," Chou said.

Chou also noted the biggest restriction on cross-Strait tourism is the limited number of direct flights across the Strait.

Currently, the two sides run 270 direct flights per week across the Strait, and there are plans to increase that by another 100 flights.

But Man and Chou agreed that even 370 flights per week is not enough.

"I think about 500 flights per week will be okay," Chou said.