TAIPEI - Taiwan will inaugurate a new organization to negotiate tourism arrangements with the mainland, a senior official said Friday, expressing the hope that more visitors from the mainland will begin arriving in the island by the end of the year.

Joseph Wu, head of the cabinet-level "Mainland Affairs Council", said the Taiwan Strait Traveling and Tourism Association will try to put into practice Taiwan's long-standing policy of opening its doors to mainland tourists.

"We hope to begin negotiations with the mainland on the issue as soon as possible and I believe it could be implemented by the end of this year," Wu said.

The new Taiwanese organization is to act as a counterpart to a semiofficial group China inaugurated early this month, he said. 

Taiwan hopes Beijing will agree to list the island as an officially approved tourism destination for mainlanders, Wu said. Lack of that designation compels mainland tourists to arrive in the island from another tourist destination, and to travel only in groups.

For its part, the mainland is pressing Taiwan to allow mainlanders to arrive on the island on direct charter flights, instead of transiting through Hong Kong or another third point. Taiwan has yet to agree to that demand.

Both Taiwan and the mainland "have expressed the hope to expand tourism and we feel the timing has become more ripe recently," Wu said. He did not elaborate.

As part of Taiwan's tourist promotion activities for mainland visitors, authorities are considering relaxing a number of restrictions, including the exchange of the Chinese currency in Taiwan, Wu said.

According to the Mainland Affairs Council, 173,000 mainlanders came to Taiwan last year, while 4.1 million Taiwanese visited the mainland.

Taiwan tourism promoters believe that a tourism agreement with the mainland will bring about at least a doubling in the number of mainland visitors during the first year.