Photo: Sina Weibo

Chinese actress Liu Yifei's new role as the tourism ambassador for Abu Dhabi, capital of United Arab Emirates (UAE), sparked heated discussion on China's social media on Monday as China's upcoming National Day holidays are just around the corner.

The tourism promotional film of Abu Dhabi starring Liu, also known as Crystal Liu, who got the worldwide fame for playing the protagonist of the Disney action film Mulan based on a centuries-old traditional Chinese story, gained over 8.14 million views and over 119,000 likes after it debuted on China's Sina Weibo on Monday.

In the video, Liu, changing into different splendid outfits, is placed in different scenarios such as hotel, restaurant, aquarium and other tourist attractions in Abu Dhabi.

Many netizens congratulated Liu for winning the work contract from the city and expressed their expectation to travel to Abu Dhabi.

This is not the first time Liu is promoting tourism for a city. At the beginning of this year, the TV series named Meet Yourself starring Liu, made in Dali in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, a popular tourist destination, helped Yunnan gain a historic record of 38.4 billion yuan in tourism revenue during the Chinese Spring Festival holidays, ranking the top among all the provinces across the nation.

As China's National Day holidays are approaching, Abu Dhabi invited Liu to be the promotion ambassador for the city in a bid to attract Chinese tourists.

The Abu Dhabi tourism authority reminded Chinese tourists via its official Sina Weibo account on Monday that Chinese nationals with passports valid for more than six months can enter the UAE without a visa and stay for up to 30 days.

As China reopened its gate to the world, many countries in the Middle East have become new holiday hit for Chinese tourists with a huge influx expected during the upcoming holidays.

Egypt, Turkey and Iran remain the most popular tourist destinations among Chinese tourists, although Saudi Arabia and the UAE are getting more attention, especially from young people, as the number of Chinese tourists booking or asking about trips to countries in the Middle East has increased in recent weeks.

Currently, more Chinese tourists are getting out of the airports in cities of Saudi Arabi and UAE to gain a deeper understanding of these countries instead of treating them as transfer stations for European countries, analysts said, noting that close people-to-people exchanges will also help deepen bilateral relations between China and other countries in the Middle East.