A 50-member delegation from the southern port city of Kaohsiung, led by Council Speaker Chuang Chi-wang, will head later this week to Guangzhou in China's Guangdong Province on a tourism promotion tour of the southern Chinese city.

According to Chuang, the delegation, comprising officials, councilors and business leaders, is scheduled to leave for Guangzhou July 12 aboard a weekend charter flight from Kaohsiung to conduct a five-day tourism promotion tour.

"I hope the visit will help entice more Chinese tourists into using the port city as their points of entry and departure to boost local tourism revenues," Chuang said.

Chuang was originally scheduled to conduct a trip to Guangzhou July 4 on what was supposed to have been the maiden direct weekend charter flight from Kaohsiung's airport, but was forced to postpone the trip because there was no such service from the southern port city due to a lack of demand.

Over 700 Chinese tourists, reporters and government officials from Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Guanzhou arrived in Taiwan July 4 on the maiden direct weekend charter flights between Taiwan and China, representing a new page in cross-strait relations.

Cross-strait relations have been easing since the May 20 inauguration of President Ma Ying-jeou, who has adopted a more pragmatic stance toward relations with China. Since he has been in office, the two sides reached historic agreements June 13 to launch direct charter flights across the strait on weekends.