Top 10 WeChat Posts by Tourism Destinations 2018

Which WeChat articles by overseas tourism destinations got the most views in 2018? Here are the top 10 most-viewed articles by national, regional or municipal tourism boards published on WeChat this year. The ranking is based on the number of views the article received the week it was published (as catalogued in Dragon Trail’s WeChat rankings), but we’ve also checked how many views each article has racked up since then.

The destinations were geographically spread out, from popular Hong Kong to up-and-coming Kenya, and the only accounts to make it to the top 10 list with more than one article were the Tourism Authority of Thailand (Shanghai Office) and Visit Korea.

Article topics varied significantly, but a number of them feature many images of beautiful landscapes, and famous personalities – including Chinese actors, Korean boy bands and Norwegian royalty – all attracted WeChat users’ attention. Read on for the full list…

10. Tourism New Zealand, “Hello, I’m New Zealand”, 32,122 views for the week of 19-25 March (43,010 as of 27 December)

“Hello, I’m New Zealand” was the 10th most-viewed WeChat post by an overseas tourism destination in 2019

9. Destination Canada, “Journey across Canada by VIA Rail Canada”, 32,478 views for the week of 29 Oct-4 November (41,114 views as of 27 December)

Traveling across Canada by VIA Rail captured WeChat users’ attention

8. Dubai Tourism, “Explore Dubai with Deng Chao”, 32,748 views for the week of 17-23 September (35,075 views as of 27 December)

Dubai stands out for KOL marketing

7. Visit Korea, “Top restaurants in South Korea to spot your celebrity idols”, 34,122 views for the week of 17-23 September (38,585 views as of 27 December)

6. Hong Kong Tourism Board, “Hong Kong’s Arts Month starts in March”, 37,707 views for the week of 26 February-4 March (45,603 as of 27 December)

Hong Kong tapped into growing interest in arts and culture among Chinese tourists

5. Visit Norway, “Norwegian King Harald and Queen Sonja will visit China”, 42,908 views for the week of 8-14 October (46,295 views as of 27 December)

The king and queen of Norway’s visit to China corresponded with the announcement of the first-ever direct flights between the two countries

4. Kenya Tourism Board, “There are no words to describe this video about Kenya”, 46,137 views for the week of 26 March-1 April (59,291 views as of 27 December)The Kenya Tourism Board’s video was a hit on WeChat

3. Tourism Authority of Thailand – Shanghai Office, “Thailand temporarily waives visa-on-arrival fee”, 58,629 views for the week of 5-11 November (61,109 views as of 27 December)

2. Visit Korea, “Say goodbye to 2018, take a quiz with EXO to win new year gifts”, 63,232 views for the week of 10-16 December (100,000+ views* as of 27 December)

South Korean boy bands were the country’s top ambassadors in 2018, securing Visit Korea the 7th and 2nd most-viewed WeChat posts by a tourism destination

1. Tourism Authority of Thailand – Shanghai Office, “Leave a comment to win free return tickets to Thailand”, 100,000+ views* for the week of 26 Nov-2 Dec (TAT Chengdu also got 44,304 views for the same post)

Thailand’s end-of-year tourism promotions have attracted a lot of attention on WeChat

*Please note that the highest number of views counted by WeChat is 100,000.