Gulangyu Island attracts many international tourists. [Photo/Gulangyu Island]
"No need for translation apps — instant interpretation is here. Foreign card payments go through in seconds, and tax refunds hit your account in just five minutes. The services on this island are full of surprises!" On Nov 11, Anna, a French tourist who had just finished her trip to Gulangyu Island, gave a thumbs-up of approval for the island’s tourism services.
The 2025 Cultural Tourism Promotion Event for Foreigners Under the 240-hour Visa-free Transit Policy was recently held in Xiamen, where six interregional itineraries for inbound tourists in southern Fujian were released. Since the implementation of the 240-hour visa-free transit policy, Gulangyu Island — one of the key stops along these routes — has welcomed over 260,000 inbound visitors, marking a year-on-year increase of nearly 40 percent.
In recent years, Gulangyu Island has centered its efforts on "inbound tourism services", making cross-border cultural exchange and tourism easier through standardized systems and technological innovation.
To address frequent pain points such as language barriers and payment issues, Gulangyu promptly introduced the benchmark standards for inbound tourism services.
Today, State-owned attractions and shops across the island are fully compatible with mainstream domestic and international payment channels, including UnionPay, Alipay, and foreign e-wallets. Coupled with the "one shop, one QR code" credit supervision system, visitors can easily check merchant ratings by scanning the code, ensuring a more transparent and secure consumer experience.
China will extend its visa-exemption arrangements to France and other countries covered by the policy to Dec 31, 2026.
