Q2 2024 WeChat Rankings Report

Dragon Trail has tracked the accounts of national tourism boards (NTOs), regional and municipal tourism boards (DMOs), international airlines, and international cruise lines on WeChat since 2017. We added international hotels and museums & attractions in 2019. As of Q2 2024, we have added one more category of accounts to our list: overseas airports.

In this report we analyze the first quarter of airport data to see what accounts and content strategies stand out for this category, in addition to discussing the most popular content and notable developments in the other six categories.

Airports

The top 10 outbound airports as ranked by content views on WeChat are quite diverse, including East and West Asia, Europe, and North America. Two of the airports are in Japan, with the others in Hong Kong, Canada, Singapore, South Korea, France, the UK, Italy, and Turkiye. Average views per post are lower in this category than in the others we track, but a few airports stand out. The most popular content includes practical information – particularly on getting to and from the airport, shopping at the airport, attractions at the airport and in the surrounding area, and new flight routes.

Singapore’s Changi Airport stands out from the rest, with far higher average views per post. The airport ranks fourth for total views, despite only publishing two articles during the quarter. Changi positions itself as a tourism destination of its own, with articles on airport attractions including miniature golf and art installations, plus dining promotions, and shopping vouchers.

WeChat posts by Singapore’s Changi Airport

The most-read airport article of the quarter, with 14,733 views, was published by Kansai Airport in Osaka, with a giveaway for tickets on the Hello Kitty Haruka Airport Express, which runs between the airport and Kyoto.

Ranked 1st for total views and 2nd for average views per post, Hong Kong International Airport’s posts are generally practical if lackluster in design. The top post, with more than 5,000 views, is rather inexplicably a commemoration of the 1st anniversary of the HKIA Dongguan Logistics Park, which is only for cargo services. HKIA’s other popular articles announced a new security system, on-site check-in services at the Canton Fair, and West Kowloon check-in services.

(Left to right) Kansai Airport’s giveaway, Vancouver International Airport promotes Air Canada flights to Singapore, Hong Kong International Airport’s newest security system

Ranked 3rd for total views is the Vancouver International Airport. Their focus seems to be less on passengers arriving from China, but rather on Chinese living in Vancouver who will be flying out of the airport. The most-read article listed new routes to visa-free destinations in Asia for Chinese passport holders. Other top content from Vancouver included job openings at the airport, an airport-sponsored scholarship for women in business, and discounts for online duty-free shopping.

NTOs

The Japan National Tourism Organization continues to stand out on WeChat, with both inspirational and practical content related to visiting what is currently the world’s most popular destination for Chinese tourism. One article on Japan’s 10 most beautiful small towns surpassed 100k views even without any giveaways or additional incentives to read and share the content. Chinese travelers are increasingly looking for unique and off-the-beaten-track destinations, and this article inspires and guides with exactly that. Other top posts from Japan include a guide to summer fireworks shows, and practical information for May holiday travelers on what to do in a medical emergency.

Turespaña continues to stand out in the WeChat rankings, particularly among European tourism boards. With more than 53k views, Spain’s most-read article was about the new “Ages of Splendor” exhibition in Shanghai, with works from Madrid’s Prado Museum.

(Left to right) Small towns in Japan, the Prado’s “Ages of Splendor” comes to Shanghai, Canada’s Prince Edward Island

Malaysia is having a good year for Chinese tourism, and the tourism board also climbed up six places in the rankings this quarter to 6th. The most popular thing they published was an announcement that Chinese tourists could now cut their time to clear customs down to 15 seconds by using the airport’s self-service gates.

Destination Canada also moved up the rankings to 8th place, from 13th in Q1 2024 and 18th in 2023. Views per post have increased significantly, and the top articles were a guide to Prince Edward Island, and recommendations for coastal walks.

DMOs

Macao and Hong Kong continue to top the list of regional and municipal tourism boards. Both have a consistent content strategy, with Macau posting about shopping, performances, and travel rules (in this case, Chinese cities whose residents can visit Macau as FITs), while Hong Kong focuses on cultural events and the arts.

Los Angeles returned to the leaderboard in Q1 and has now moved up two spots to 7th place. The city’s most popular article congratulated Chinese pianist Lang Lang on his Hollywood Boulevard star, while other content guided readers to restaurants and theme parks.

Tahiti joined the top 10 DMOs this quarter, receiving more than 18k views for an article entitled “How to visit Tahiti in luxury without the expense?” with recommendations for cruise packages.

Airlines

Air Macau tops the rankings for total views, by posting more than five times more than the average, with 121 articles during the quarter while ranking 7th for average views per post. Meanwhile AirAsia easily remained the leader for average views. As usual, their posts emphasized low-cost promotions for travel in Asia, as well as direct connections. Hong Kong Airlines also had some of the most-viewed airline content, because of a ticket giveaway.

Cruise Lines

One interesting development for international cruise lines on WeChat this quarter, is that in addition to standard promotional points like deals and on-board facilities, Royal Caribbean International emphasized in several of their most-read articles that cruising is a visa-free way to travel internationally. RCI passengers can visit Japan and South Korea without applying for visas, and this seems to be a new selling point during a year when visa-free travel has taken off so significantly for the Chinese market.

Visa-free travel in Asia on Royal Caribbean International (left) and family travel in Europe on Viking Cruises (right)

Meanwhile, Viking Cruises emphasized that families traveling with children in Europe can save money by opting for a cruise. Ahead of 5/20 (“I love you” Day) they also promoted the romance of Europe.

Museums & Attractions

As usual, Disneyland Hong Kong topped the attraction rankings, followed by Ocean Park Hong Kong. Disneyland’s most-read article announced a 10k run event coming up in November. Other popular content included a post about Marvel superheroes, and another about Donald Duck’s 90th anniversary.

(Left to right) The British Museum’s Michelangelo exhibition, the NGV’s upcoming Yayoi Kusama exhibition, and MoMA’s post on emojis

New York’s Museum of Modern Art only posted once during Q2 2024, but it was the most popular museum article of the quarter, with more than 3k views. The topic was the history of emoji design. The British Museum also received more than 3k views for an article on the “Michelangelo – The Last Decades” exhibition. Victoria and Albert promoted an on-loan exhibition of works by William Morris in Guangzhou. The highest ranking museum for total views, Melbourne’s National Gallery of Victoria attracted viewers with an announcement about an upcoming Yayoi Kusama exhibition.

Hotels

Marriott published the most-read hotel content this quarter, with topics including their monthly members’ day, a promotion for the 618 e-commerce festival, spring travel, and a giveaway. InterContinental also promoted their loyalty program, and announced a series of intimate concerts by the Lang Lang Art World (not pianist Lang Lang himself, however) at Indigo properties around China.

Hilton’s top posts centered around family travel, with one about traveling with elderly parents, and another about traveling with young children.