Tourists cycle along the coastal ring road. Zhu Qingfu / for China Daily

Beaches are a major tourist attraction in Xiamen. Hong Ruochuan / for China Daily

Picturesque coastal Xiamen is also called Egret Island because its healthy environment and abundant food attract flocks of the water birds.

With a pleasant sub-tropical climate all year round, the island also hosts millions of tourists every year. Many are thrilled to see egrets frolic on the waterfront at Yuandang Lake in the center of Xiamen, an area surrounded by the city's most vibrant commercial neighborhood.

The lake that is home to egrets is regarded as a symbol of the environmentally friendly city. It is just one scenic spot among a wealth of tourist attractions on the island that also include Gulangyu Island, Wanshi Botanic Gardens, the Island Ring Road and Nanputuo Buddhist Temple.

Dubbed "the garden on the sea", Xiamen has delighted tourists from both home and abroad with rich sightseeing attractions and excellent travel services.

Satisfaction surveys rank the city second among the country's tourism destinations. The surveys by the China Tourism Academy also found that Xiamen performed best among all Chinese cities in dealing with tourism complaints.

As one of China's top 10 tourist resorts, Xiamen accommodated more than 30 million tourists in 2010. More than 1.63 million arrived from overseas, generating $1 billion in foreign exchange earnings, according to Xiamen Bureau of Statistics.

The number of tourists in 2010 even surpassed the combined figures from 1981 to 1990, a period when it hosted 22 million domestic tourists.

Tourism revenue contributes more than 9 percent of the city's GDP, showing its importance as a pillar industry in the local economy.

"Xiamen is a warm and romantic city with its charm of blue seas, sandy shores, exotic flowers and ancient buildings," said Guo Daosheng, an official at Xiamen Tourism Bureau.

Guo said the city is transforming from a sightseeing destination to a seashore resort for holiday tourists.

"We are promoting the concepts of romantic travel and relaxed life in Xiamen," he said.

Due to the booming trade, Xiamen now has 69 star-level hotels and restaurants including 11 five-star hotels and 23 four-star accommodations.

The city also strengthened its transport network of aviation, rail, highways and sea links to make tours more convenient.

Gaoqi International Airport has become a significant regional aviation hub in the past 30 years. The airport has direct links to 86 cities in North Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America.

The city is also leveraging its advantages in the booming tourism across the Taiwan Straits. The Xiamen-Kinmen ferry route that opened in 2001 ended a half century of no direct sea transport between mainland and Taiwan.

Tourists from both sides of the Straits have now made more than 5 million trips with the ferry service.

In 2009, the passenger ship Cosco Star sailed out of Xiamen to Taichung in Taiwan to become the first direct passenger sea link between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan Island. In June, Xiamen was selected as one of the three mainland cities whose residents can take individual trips to Taiwan.

"Xiamen will further develop diverse tourism products with more major projects coming up," said Huang Guobin, head of the Xiamen Tourism Bureau.

According to Huang, Xiamen has plans for cruise travel, yachting and caravan camping to serve the high-end tourism market, adding the island will also be "a shopping paradise".

(China Daily 01/02/2012 page12)