Top WeChat Posts by International DMOs 2020

Which WeChat posts by regional and municipal tourism boards attracted the most attention in 2020? In this exceptional year, the results of the rankings for WeChat content are also quite exceptional, and for this reason, we’ve put together two lists. The first is the top 10 posts by the Macao Government Tourism Office; the second is the top 10 posts by all other DMOs.

Why have we decided to separate out Macau? The territory has received such high views for its WeChat content in the past four months, that a top 10 article list for DMOs would have nine posts by Macau (and one from the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board). Even a top 20 article list would be similarly dominated by Macau. As the only outbound destination on the planet that mainland Chinese can visit as tourists and return without a quarantine, Macau has a major advantage over any other DMO, and it has been very significantly promoted as a tourism destination since opening in September, including through partnerships with the Trip.com Group and Air Macau.

While acknowledging Macau’s dominance on WeChat in terms of article viewership, we put together our end-of-year top 10 articles lists in order to reveal broader trends in content marketing strategies. It’s particularly important for those outside of Macau to see what was popular with WeChat users who couldn’t travel to a destination but were still reading about it – and planning post-pandemic trips.

What’s interesting and different in 2020 compared to 2019, is that the Hong Kong Tourism board appears only once in the top articles list, compared to five times in 2019. Conversely, British Columbia proved to be very popular in 2020, with articles focusing on nature and quality of life, and Los Angeles also stood out early in the year for its articles in support of China during the early days of the pandemic. Most of the most-read articles of 2020 focus on pandemic response and breaking news.

The articles are ranked by the number of views they received by the end of the week they were posted, but we’ve also included the total number of views as of 21 December.

Here are our two top 10 lists for DMO WeChat content in 2020:

Macao Government Tourism Office:

10. Autumn sightseeing guide
41,832 views for the week of 24-30 October (46.3k views as of 21 December)

9. Macau’s Christmas Market is coming soon!
43,395 views for the week of 12-18 December (46.5k views as of 21 December)

8. Travel KOL Jisu Caicai: Why now is the right time to visit Macau
44,481 views for the week of 3-9 October (48.9k views as of 21 December)

7. Buy-one-get-one-free offer on plane tickets to Macau
46,704 views for the week of 17-23 October (56.5k views as of 21 December)

6. Macau Shopping Festival: Up to 90% off
56,853 views for the week of 21-27 November (58.6k views as of 21 December)

5. From today, Macau is reopen!
69,048 views for the week of 19-25 September (73.4k views as of 21 December)

4. The latest Macau guidebook
81,466 views for the week of 12-18 September (100k+ views* as of 21 December)

3. Giveaway | The validity of 50% off hotel vouchers has been extended by 60 days
96,188 views for the week of 5-11 December (100k+ views as of 21 December)

2. November in Macau is amazing!
100K+* views for the week of 31 October-6 November

1. Win vouchers for 50% off Macao hotel rooms
100k+ views for the week of 29 August-4 September

*100,000 is the highest number of views displayed on WeChat.

DMOs outside of Macau:

10. Forever Edinburgh
My memories of Edinburgh
18,456 views for the week of 16-22 May (22.7k views as of 21 December)

9. Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing
Enjoy New Year 2020 fireworks at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa
20,216 views for the week of 30 December-5 January

8. Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board
Connecting L.A. musicians with China’s Central Conservatory of Music
20,820 views for the week of 2-8 March (21.1k views as of 21 December)

7. Tourism Victoria & Melbourne
Coronavirus travel update
21,318 views for the week of 3-9 February (21.9k views as of 21 December)

6. British Columbia
Vancouver Island travel guide
21,901 views for the week of 18-24 July (27.1k views as of 21 December)

5. Visit York
Coronavirus: UK tracing up to 2,000 Wuhan visitors
22,281 views for the week of 20-26 January (22.6k views as of 21 December)

4. British Columbia
Vancouver has placed in the top three cities to live for quality of life
22,588 views for the week of 25-31 July (26.3k views as of 21 December)

3. Hong Kong Tourism Board
Hong Kong entry restrictions extended
23,250 views for the week of 4-10 April (25.8k views as of 21 December)

2. British Columbia
Actor Huang Jue: Walk away from the internet and enjoy your time in British Columbia
25,523 views for the week of 6-12 January (25.6k views as of 21 December)

1. Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board
Los Angeles collaborated with local musicians to create an original piece of music dedicated to the people of China
65,027 views for the week of 17-23 February (65.2k views as of 21 December)