TAIPEI - A cross-Straits travel fair kicked off in Taipei on Friday, offering the Chinese mainland and Taiwan an opportunity to showcase tourist attractions and market their tourism products.

A total of 368 promotion booths have been set up at the travel fair, with 235 from the mainland and 133 from Taiwan.

The mainland delegation has representatives from 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, including Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Hubei and Xinjiang.

Business executives from major mainland tour operators are also taking part in the event.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's delegation consists of representatives of travel agencies, leisure farms, theme parks and duty-free shops.

During the event, organizers will hold 16 briefings to introduce tourism products to the public and stage 54 cultural performances.

The four-day fair, which was first launched in 2006, opened with dances and martial arts performed by artists from Taiwan and mainland.

Du Jiang, chief of the mainland-based Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits said the event has become an important platform for cross-Straits tourism exchange and cooperation. He added that it is an effective way for Taiwan's public to learn about tourism products offered by the mainland.

According to Du, the mainland delegation, consisting of more than 800 people, will introduce products to Taiwan's tour operators and consumers under the theme of "happy and healthy tourism."

He hoped that exhibitors from the mainland and Taiwan can enhance their friendship through exchange and create mutual benefits through collaboration during the fair.

The mainland and Taiwan have become an important source of tourists for each other in the past few years.

According to figures provided by the Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits, Taiwanese tourists made a total of 4.01 million visits to the mainland in the first nine months of the year, marking a 0.74-percent year-on-year growth.

Meanwhile, mainland tourists made 1.46 million visits to Taiwan in the January-September this year, surging 73.6 percent.