BEIJING, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- A total of 606,100 tourists from the Chinese mainland visited Taiwan in 2009, fulfilling expectations despite the impact of H1N1 flu and the global economic downturn, China Daily reported on Saturday.

    Each mainland tourist spent nearly 1,800 U.S. dollars on the island, according to Shao Qiwei, chairman of the Beijing-based Association for Tourism Exchange Across the Taiwan Straits.

    "We see good cooperation between tourism industries across the Strait taking shape," the newspaper quoted Shao as saying.

    Since July 2008, when Taiwan first opened to mainland tourists, about 660,000 mainland tourists have visited the island and spent 1.13 billion U.S. dollars there, benefiting local transportation as well as the retail, entertainment and health industries, the news paper said.

    In four months starting August of 2009, mainland tourists spent65.7 million U.S. dollars through UnionPay payment cards, figures from mainland bankcard association China UnionPay showed.

    Despite the impact of H1N1 flu since May last year, a string of relaxed rules in 2009 had spurred the interest of mainland tourists in visiting Taiwan.

    In 2009, Taiwan has opened to mainland residents in 25 provinces, up from the initial 13 provinces. Relaxed rules have also allowed five tourists to form a group to visit Taiwan, instead of the initial requirement of at least 10 tourists. Mainland tourists can also stay in Taiwan for a maximum of 15 days, instead of the initial 10 days.

    Combined with mainland business groups, more than 900,000 mainland travelers visited Taiwan in 2009, the newspaper quoted Christine Lai, director of the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association, as saying.