Most residents of the Chinese mainland's Fujian Province will be allowed to visit Kinmen, Matsu and Penghu islands, which are located near Taiwan, independently starting Friday.

Tourists are only allowed to visit the islands as part of package tours, according to the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) and Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation.

An ARATS statement said that the move is a "new fruit of cross-Strait tourism cooperation" after residents of Beijing, Shanghai and southeastern Fujian's city of Xiamen are allowed to visit Taiwan as individual tourists beginning June 28.

"The new move will further boost tourism exchanges, economic development and mutual understanding across the Strait," it said.

In the primary stage, residents of Fujian's cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Putian, Sanming, Nanping, Longyan and Ningde as well as Pingtan experimental zone will be allowed to visit the islands. More regions will join the pilot program in the future.

However, the statement stressed that tourists are not allowed to visit Taiwan's main island during such independent tours.

Tourists do not need to provide their financial status when submitting applications, but are restricted to stays of 15 days or less, according to the statement said.