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Flights to Taiwan for the New Year holidays have almost sold out with the first direct flight to the island due to take off Saturday.

The Taiwan Businessmen's Association in GuangZhou is trying to help Taiwan business people in GuangZhou and other cities within the province go back for holidays.

More than 95 percent of the tickets to Taiwan were sold by Tuesday, according to the data from the ticket agents of China Southern Airlines.

"But there are still many Taiwan people who want to book seats," a Mr Xie from the business association said. "Just in our association, about 100 to 200 Taiwanese are waiting for tickets," he said.

According to flight schedules, China Southern Airlines will make the first direct flight from the Chinese Mainland to Taiwan. The flight will leave GuangZhou at 8 a.m. and arrive in Taipei at 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 29.

Xie said the association would make every effort to satisfy Taiwanese people who want to fly home on the direct links.

"We are now considering asking the Civil Aviation Administration of China to increase the number of flights or asking airlines to use larger aircraft so more tickets can be sold," he said.

More and more Taiwanese are setting up their business in Guangdong Province. According to the latest statistics, there are now 18,600 Taiwan-funded businesses in the province with a total investment of US$36 billion.

Most of the businesses are located in Pearl River Delta cities such as Dongguan, GuangZhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Zhongshan and others with more than 200,000 Taiwan businessmen and their families living in the area.