A total of 1.12 million tourists from the Chinese mainland traveled to Taiwan in the first half of the year, a 13.2 percent year-on-year increase, the Taiwan-based nownews.com reported on Tuesday, citing the Association for Tourism Exchange across the Taiwan Straits (ATETS).

The number of group tourists declined 3.3 percent to 900,000, while the number of individual tourists soared to 220,000, a 275 percent increase year on year, according to statistics from ATETS.

Fan Min, president of Ctrip International Ltd, one of the Chinese mainland's largest travel agencies, said that a new generation – which includes many mobile app users - now constitutes the majority of visitors to Taiwan.

Currently Taiwan receives tourists from 19 mainland cities, which will add to 26 cities by the end of August.

The Chinese mainland is the largest source of tourists visiting Taiwan, and mainland tourists have spent $15.68 billion in Taiwan since the island opened up its tourism market to mainland travelers in 2008.

Edited by Chen Zhilin and Niva Whyman