BEIJING, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland has increased six more cities for individual travelers there to go to Hong Kong and Macao.

    Nanchang, Changsha, Nanning, Haikou, Guiyang, and Kunming will allow individual visits to the two special administrative regions with approval of the State Council.

    In Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan Province, more than 260 citizens obtained travel permits on Monday.

    The Individual Visit Scheme to Hong Kong and Macao started in July 2003.

    By the end of February this year, 38 cities on the mainland had joined the program.

    Hong Kong alone had hosted 12.27 million mainland tourists under the Individual Visit Scheme by the end of February, according to the Hong Kong Tourism Board. Enditem