Fujian province’s communications department has reported a 3.33 percent year-on-year increase in the number of passengers traveling between Fujian province and Taiwan in 2012, from the preceding year. That meant a total of 773,800 people in all, traveling between the island and the mainland.

It also involved a total of 6,033 air flights, in 2012, for a 0.22 percent increase. Although the number of passengers handled by Fuzhou Airport was down 2.06 percent from 2011, at 314,300, the number handled by the airport in the coastal city of Xiamen, a respectable 459,500 represented a 7.37-percent increase.

Also last year, there were 1.6 million people who chose to take to the sea to travel between the two. Ships going between Fujian’s coastal area and the main island of Taiwan made 486 voyages, carrying over 140,000 passengers. This represented a growth of 190.59 percent, from 2011. At the same time, nearly 1.5 million people chose the “mini-three-links” (including four routes from Fujian ports to Kinmen or Mazu islands), which was on a par with 2011’s figure.