BEIJING, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of UNESCO World Heritage Center, recently led a delegation to visit Quanzhou, a historical port city in southeast China's Fujian Province, making the city, recognized as the "Emporium of the World in Song-Yuan China", once again capture global attention.
While the global recognition of World Heritage is breathing new vitality into Quanzhou's inbound tourism market, the city, rich in World Heritage resources, has been taking efforts to continuously optimize its inbound tourism services in recent years.
The implementation of the 240-hour visa-free transit program has provided significant convenience for international tourists visiting Quanzhou. Statistics shows that Quanzhou received around 403,900 inbound tourist visits in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 95.5 percent. Tourism revenue from international visitors reached 2.995 billion yuan (about 421 million U.S. dollars), up 83.3 percent from the same period last year.
Behind these figures lies the significant role of distinctive tourist routes Quanzhou developed by leveraging its World Heritage IPs. From the thousand-year-old Kaiyuan Temple to the exotic architecture of Qingjing Mosque, each heritage site functions as a "cultural magnet" for international visitors.
Meanwhile, the city's "Maritime Silk Road Quanzhou" International Tourism Promoter Program has ensured its listing among the top 100 Asian tourism destinations released by China's online tourism service provider Ctrip.com, further raising Quanzhou's reputation and influence in the global tourism market.
Quanzhou has also been dedicated to pioneering international cooperation on World Heritage conservation. It has carried out exchanges and collaboration with multiple cities along the Maritime Silk Road in terms of heritage protection and cultural tourism development.
In the future, the city plans to deepen cooperation with UNESCO. It will promote its heritage conservation experience globally through the UN platforms while introducing advanced international concepts and approaches for cultural tourism development into Quanzhou, aiming to promote higher-quality development of the cultural tourism industry.
Additionally, Quanzhou will leverage its World Heritage IP to develop cross-border cultural trade initiatives, enabling its intangible cultural heritage products and cultural creative goods to enter the global market.
During the visit to Quanzhou, Assomo described the city as a "living heritage" and spoke highly of the city's approach to cultural heritage conservation. He also expressed his expectation "to promote China's heritage conservation experience". (Edited by Li Xueqing with Xinhua Silk Road, lixueqing@xinhua.org)
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