TAIPEI, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Taiwan's visitor arrivals from the Chinese mainland continued to shrink dramatically this year, with the number of Chinese mainland visitors registered a yearly drop of 50.2 percent in the first four months, according to preliminary data from the island' s immigration department Thursday.
A total of 610,000 Chinese mainland visitors came to Taiwan from January to April this year, of which 267,000 travelled in tour groups, 61 percent less than the same period in the previous year.
Independent mainland tourist arrivals, in the meantime, fell 36.3 percent year-on-year to 343,00.
The number of mainland tourists has plummeted since Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen, who refuses to recognize the 1992 Consensus, took office in May last year.
In 2016, the number of Chinese mainland tourists to Taiwan slipped 14.4 percent to 3.61 million, the first drop in eight years, data from the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council showed.
