Resources - news, events, videos & presentations

Q3 2024 Weibo Rankings Report

Celebrity-related content continues to drive engagements on Weibo, with NTOs and hotels seeing strong results from influencer partnerships. While NTOs and airlines saw growth, DMOs, cruise lines, and hotels experienced a decline in Q3 2024.

Dragon Trail International’s Weibo Rankings Report tracks and analyzes performance for national tourism organizations (NTOs), destination marketing organizations (DMOs), airlines, cruise lines, museums & attractions, and hotels. Our quarterly Weibo reports build industry benchmarks and uncover best practices in digital marketing in the travel sector.

Celebrity-related content continued to drive engagement on Weibo in Q3 2024, with NTOs and hotels seeing strong results from influencer partnerships. While NTOs and airlines saw growth in the average number of engagements, DMOs, cruise lines, and hotels all experienced a decline.

Engagement Trends Comparison across Q1 2024, Q2 2024, and Q3 2024

From Q2 to Q3 2024, NTOs more than doubled average engagements from 3,628 to 8,458. DMOs experienced a 28.5% decrease, dropping from 9,840 to 7,035. Airlines increased by 18% to 967 quarterly engagements per account. Cruise lines’ engagement declined by 18.5% to 117. Attractions showed a 22% increase, growing from 966 to 1,180 engagements, while hotels experienced a notable decrease of nearly 62%, dropping from 11,510 in Q2 to 4,413 in Q3. In summary, three categories (NTOs, airlines, attractions) saw growth, while the remaining three categories (DMOs, cruise lines, and hotels) saw a decline.

NTOs

The overall rise in NTO engagements was driven by increased posting frequency and celebrity-related content. Visit Denmark has experienced significant fluctuations in engagement from throughout 2024. After achieving 44,223 engagements and reaching first place in Q2, Visit Denmark dropped to 31st place in Q3, with only 441 engagements, marking a 99% decrease. Meanwhile, Tourism Australia maintained high engagement levels in Q3, climbing to the top of the rankings from 2nd place in Q2. The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s four Weibo accounts all ranked in the top 20, leveraging celebrity endorsements in their news and event announcements. Notably, five of the ten most popular posts in the NTO category came from Thailand, with four related to the “Nihao Month” initiative. This initiative celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival and China-Thailand friendship with a grand “Amazing Thailand Mid-Autumn Night” event in Bangkok on September 17, 2024. The event featured actor Yunxi Luo, the China-Thailand Cultural Friendship Ambassador (appointed by TAT in October 2024), and Thai artists, along with social media influencers promoting Thailand to Chinese tourists. TAT also collaborated with local businesses to offer special deals targeting Chinese visitors, aiming for 500 million impressions and attracting over 250,000 tourists from China. These four posts garnered a total of 71,608 engagements.

TAT’s “Nihao Month” initiative

In addition to Thailand’s success, Australia’s posts with the hashtag #TravelAustraliaWithYuShi# (#和于适在澳大利亚#) also gained significant popularity. On June 21, 2024, the reciprocal arrangement between China and Australia for 5-year multi-entry visas officially took effect. Following this announcement, Tourism Australia invited Chinese actor Shi Yu for a tour of Australia, which generated substantial attention on Weibo among his followers. Three of Australia’s posts with the hashtag #TravelAustraliaWithYuShi# ranked in the top 10 most popular NTO posts for the quarter, securing 1st, 2nd, and 9th positions.

The success of Australia and Thailand’s campaigns highlights that a highly effective strategy for attracting Chinese tourists involves NTOs organizing festivities around major Chinese holidays, inviting celebrities with strong fan bases, and promoting these events on social media through unique hashtags.

DMOs

Discover Hong Kong and the Macau Government Tourism Office, which held 1st and 2nd place in Q2 2024, have since dropped to 2nd and 4th place, respectively. This decline was driven by a reduction in engagements, falling from 262,704 to 15,274, despite a largely unchanged posting frequency. In Q3, the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism rose to 1st place for the first time, moving up from 8th place in Q2. Posts featuring Yifei Liu experiencing pearl diving in the ocean world and a quiz challenge related to Abu Dhabi garnered considerable popularity, collectively receiving 85,293 engagements, which accounted for 57.36% of the account’s total engagements. Other successful posts from Abu Dhabi prominently feature Yifei Liu promoting attractions and experiences in the destination.

Abu Dhabi’s Weibo posts featuring Yifei Liu 

Additionally, popular posts in this category include Discover Hong Kong inviting audiences to explore the city’s stunning landscapes and unique narratives through Shunxi Zeng’s new song, “Dehors,” which captures the diversity and vitality of Hong Kong; the Dubai music festival “Sound for You,” featuring Chinese celebrities; and the announcement from Vienna regarding the cancellation of Taylor Swift’s August concerts due to safety concerns.

Airlines

Qatar Airways fell to 7th place in Q3 from its previous position in 1st place in Q2. All Nippon Airways (ANA) led the airlines category with 6,075 engagements and an engagement rate of 0.06%. ANA’s most popular content includes a quiz inviting fans to identify the classic ANA blue color scheme, a poll asking whether they prefer salt or sauce for Japanese yakitori, and a fan giveaway celebrating the 14th anniversary of ANA’s official Weibo account.

The most popular post in the airlines category was Cathay Pacific’s documentary “Journey of Heart and Beyond,” featuring its brand ambassador Zhizheng Zhang, which garnered a total of 1,102 engagements.

Cruise Lines

Overall engagements for cruise lines decreased by nearly 90% in Q3, primarily due to a significant reduction in Viking’s engagements, which accounted for the majority of category engagements in Q2. Princess Cruises became active during this quarter and rose to the top of the ranking in Q3 with 198 engagements. The most popular posts included Viking unveiling its 2025 cruise itineraries, featuring new routes and promotions, as well as Princess celebrating World Tourism Day and announcing its return.

Attractions & Museums

Hong Kong Ocean Park saw its engagement increase over threefold in Q3, rising to 1st place, followed by Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, La Pedrera, and the Louvre Museum. The park’s most popular post highlighted the excitement surrounding the birth of twin pandas An An and Ke Ke, garnering a total of 4,365 engagements. The account frequently shares updates on the six pandas residing at the park, such as Ying Ying’s exclusive sleeping cave and Le Le’s 19th birthday celebration, along with seasonal travel guides, holiday celebrations, and special events.

La Pedrera/Casa Mila attracted significant attention from K-pop fans with a post featuring Baekhyun’s Barcelona trip, including two photographs of his visit to the attraction. London’s V&A museum celebrated Qixi Festival (Chinese Valentine’s Day) with a romantic giveaway of William Morris’ “Rose” gifts, which also generated considerable engagements. Disneyland’s special events and exclusive LinaBell merchandise, along with discounts and promotions, remained consistently popular.

(Left to right) Weibo posts from La Pedrera, V&A, and Hong Kong Disneyland

Hotels

The hotel category has experienced a consistent decline in engagements since Q1 2024, with a 57% decrease from Q2 to Q3 (from 287,742 to 123,573 engagements), despite an increase in overall posting frequency. Marina Bay Sands Singapore, which saw significant engagement from posts featuring Xukun Cai in Q2, received less interaction for its celebrity-related content in Q3. Hilton, after posting only six times in Q2, increased its posting frequency to 20 posts in Q3 and successfully rose to 1st place in the rankings. Four out of the five most popular posts were from Hilton, all part of its Star Officer series, featuring celebrities Ling Huang, Zun Wu, and Xinbo Fu working as members of the Hilton staff at properties around China.

Share this:

This website or its third party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. If you want to know more or withdraw your consent to all or some of the cookies, please refer to the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to the use of cookies.

share

SignUp