Xiamen's beautiful scenery attracts many international tourists. [Photo/VCG]
Xiamen was named China's most internationally influential inbound tourism city for 2025–2026 at the Weibo Travel Night held in Kaifeng, Henan province.
The ranking drew on Weibo's vast data, overseas social media buzz and feedback from inbound travelers.
Xiamen has leveraged its location and visa-free transit policies to improve inbound services. International travelers are shifting away from brief stopovers toward longer stays and multi-city trips.
The city's ports have seen steady growth. As of Oct 6, Xiamen had received nearly 900,000 foreign arrivals this year, up almost 15 percent year on year.
Malaysia is the top source market. Tourism and business account for around 70 percent of visits, with leisure and family trips now the most common types of travel. Visa-free and transit visa-free arrivals make up 60 percent of foreign visitors, and more than 160,000 travelers have used the 24-hour direct transit option.
Longer stays are becoming more common. Some 18,000 foreign travelers have entered via Xiamen under visa-free policies and stayed in Fujian for over 15 days, up more than 70 percent year-on-year.
Xiamen has rolled out a range of services to support this growth. The Gaoqi border inspection station now offers one-stop 240-hour temporary entry permits and smoother connections for transit flights. Zhongshan Road has become the province's first inbound-friendly street, and the city is piloting a simplified departure tax refund process.
China has extended its 240-hour visa-free transit policy and Hainan's 30-day visa-free entry policy to citizens of Kyrgyzstan and Vietnam, the National Immigration Administration said on Aug 20.
