Taiwan wants a deal with Chinese mainland to further ease restrictions on visits by tourists from the mainland in the second half of this year, a government official said on Thursday.

The news comes a day after the two sides announced an expansion of direct charter flights, which was seen as further paving the way for eventual direct links between Taiwan and Chinese mainland.

The measure would permit mainland Chinese to travel directly to Taiwan onboard the charter flights that will operate during major holidays, said the official, who declined to be identified.

"We hope that the charter flights can be coordinated with the tourists, this would be more reasonable and mutually beneficial," said the official.

Until the late 1980s, there were restrictions on private visits by mainland Chinese to Taiwan and vice versa due to security concerns.

But since being eased, the number of Taiwan people visiting Chinese mainland soared, with 4.1 million visits recorded in 2005, up 11.5 percent from the previous year, according to Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council.

By comparison, mainland Chinese made only 172,982 visits to Taiwan during the same time, according to council data.

Under current regulations, mainland Chinese may only enter Taiwan as part of organised tourist groups after transiting elsewhere.

Chinese citizens who have lived abroad for over four years can visit the island independently.

Taiwan still bans direct air links, forcing airlines travelling between the two sides to transit via a third location, usually Hong Kong or Macau.

But Taipei and Beijing exchanged landmark non-stop charter flights for the first time in over five decades during the Lunar New Year Festival in January and February last year after two government-authorised groups met in Macau to iron out details.

The two sides agreed on Wednesday to expand those flights to direct passenger flights over four major annual holidays and allow cargo charters for the first time.

The announcement boosted Taiwan stocks with China Airlines and EVA Airways, the island's top two carriers, rising by the daily 7 percent limit on Wednesday.

The China Times on Thursday quoted Transport Minister Kuo Yao-chi as saying all the details of the broadened tourist measures had been finalised and they were just waiting to resolve some technical issues regarding the signing of the final agreement.

Kuo said she was expecting that the first group of mainland Chinese visitors under the new regulations could visit sometime in the second half.