Q2 2025 WeChat Rankings Report

Dragon Trail’s WeChat Rankings Report for Q2 2025 examines and analyzes the performance of eight categories of travel brands on WeChat: national tourism organizations (NTOs), destination marketing organizations (DMOs, referring to regional and municipal tourism boards), airlines, cruise lines, museums and attractions, hotels, airports, and car rental companies. The report is based on data collected by Dragon Trail on a weekly basis, and aims to provide industry benchmarks and track trends in WeChat content marketing for overseas tourism brands. Dragon Trail has been collecting weekly data on NTOs, DMOs, airlines and cruise lines since 2017, with the hotels and attractions categories added in 2018, and airports and car rental companies from Q2 2024.

Labubu, tropical fruit, family travel promotions, and hidden gem destinations all caught the attention of Chinese travelers on WeChat in Q2 2025. Meanwhile, the 618 shopping holiday in June rivaled the national holiday for Labor Day in May as a popular article topic. Another important trend, seen from the perspective of WeChat content views for tourism boards, airlines, attractions, and car rental companies, is the growing awareness of and interest in the Middle East. The connections between China and this part of the world were further emphasized this quarter with China’s introduction of a visa-free travel policy for citizens of all GCC countries from 9 June, 2025.

Our Q2 2025 rankings also feature a refreshed and expanded list of global attractions and museums, reaffirming Hong Kong’s strength in this category.

Don’t see your WeChat account on our lists? Please contact us to request additional rankings information, and to help us ensure our database of international tourism brands is fully updated and complete.

NTOs

Japan remained comfortably in the lead among NTOs this quarter. Most of the tourism board’s most popular articles focused on guides to various Japanese cities, emphasizing their accessibility via newly launched flights (Kobe and Matsuyama) or their “hidden gem” appeal (Kanazawa and Takayama).

The Tourism Board of Thailand’s accounts came in 2nd, 3rd, and 6th places, with the most-read articles mostly focusing on food, including two about Thai fruit and one about Michelin-starred restaurants.

Ranked 4th, Malaysia’s tourism board also tapped into Chinese travelers’ interest in Southeast Asian fruits, with a popular article about the start of durian season. But Malaysia’s most-read post (with 16k views) focused on one of the quarter’s biggest global consumer trends: Labubu. The viral figurine from China’s Pop Mart has taken the world by storm, and can be difficult to find. Tourism Malaysia enticed travelers with information about where to buy Labubu in Malaysia, alongside other viral brands like Alo Yoga. TAT’s Chengdu office also ran a giveaway of a special edition Thai Labubu, though views were only 17% above average.

Attention-grabbing NTO posts: Labubu in Malaysia, tropical fruit in Thailand, and Jay Chou in Saudi Arabia

Beyond short-haul destinations, Saudi Arabia continues to rise up the WeChat Rankings, up to 9th in Q2 – its highest ranking yet. With 8,300 views, the tourism board’s most popular post featured Mandopop megastar Jay Chou, who’s well known for influencing Chinese tourism around the world. Jay visited Saudi Arabia for two episodes of his travel TV show, which came out this June.

Read more: 8 Times Jay Chou Started a Chinese Tourism Trend

DMOs

Ranked first among DMOs, Macau introduced several extremely popular brand collaborations this quarter, with promotional and informational materials shared on WeChat. The first was a citywalk campaign with Pop Mart, featuring installations of the hugely popular Labubu around Macau, alongside other Pop Mart characters. At the same time, Macau also partnered with Sanrio for a “Flora Fete with Sanrio Characters” event, with similar displays of Hello Kitty and other Sanrio IPs. Visitors with advance bookings can now ride a Hello Kitty bus around northern Macau for free.

Macau’s Pop Mart citywalk, Queensland’s family travel giveaway, and Ontario’s article about Niagara-on-the-Lake

Meanwhile, Hong Kong promoted off-the-beaten-track and new destinations to discover the SAR in new ways, as well as a May Labor Day holiday guide. Queensland, Australia attracted engagement with a giveaway campaign promoting low-season family travel. Ontario, Canada rose from 16th place in Q1 to 5th in Q2, more than tripling its average views per post from one quarter to the next. Ontario’s most-read articles focused on discovering small towns and villages, as well as lakes and rivers in Ottawa and Toronto.

Airlines

While Malaysian airline AirAsia specializes in low-cost flights to Southeast Asia, this quarter its most-viewed post announced the launch of its first direct flights between China and Japan. AirAsia also promoted new flights to Lang Tengah, a Malaysian island that’s only open between March and November, and “more pristine than the Maldives” according to the airline.

Other popular airline posts include All Nippon Airways’ mid-year sale, and Emirates Airline’s launch of daily Hangzhou-Dubai flights from 30 July. Qatar Airways is another Middle Eastern carrier in the top 10, though their most-viewed post, in June, announced flight cancellations due to the Israel-Iran war.

Cruise Lines

With the highest average views per post and total views, Viking Cruises topped the cruise line category. But two articles by Royal Caribbean International were actually the most-viewed cruise line posts of the quarter. With more than 73k views, Royal Caribbean’s promotions for the 618 shopping festival highlighted discounts and visa-free travel to destinations in southern Japan. Royal Caribbean also offered popular discounts earlier in the quarter to celebrate the anniversary of its ship, Spectrum of the Seas.

Meanwhile, Viking Cruises focused on European river cruises, emphasizing comfort (“getting on board is like coming home”) and promoting autumn as the ideal season to explore Europe. While Royal Caribbean promoted family travel with kids, Viking Cruises recommended their cruises to couples.

Attractions and Museums

We refreshed our list of attractions and museums this quarter, adding a total of 14 additional museum accounts to the rankings – seven of which were active in Q2. The main way that this has changed the rankings is further revealing Hong Kong’s prominence in the category: the Hong Kong Palace Museum ranked 2nd for total views, while Hong Kong’s M+ Museum (a modern art museum) ranked 2nd for average views per post and 6th for total views.

The Hong Kong Palace Museum’s most-viewed article, with 7,768 views, announced an exhibition on Ancient Egypt coming this November. The second-most viewed article, with 3,777 views, promoted the Wonders of Imperial Carpets exhibition, featuring pieces on loan from the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. Interestingly, both of these temporary exhibitions bring cultural and historical objects from the Middle East and North Africa to Hong Kong, at a time when we also see Middle Eastern tourism boards and airlines at the top of the WeChat Rankings.

Upcoming Ancient Egypt exhibition at the Hong Kong Palace Museum, modern art from Guangdong/Canton at M+, and the new V&A East Storehouse

Top posts from M+ introduced new exhibitions featuring 20th century artwork from Guangdong, local Hong Kong artist Trevor Yeung, the Asian Avant-Garde Film Festival, and the “Picasso for Asia” exhibition.

Outside of Hong Kong, London’s V&A Museum stands out, attracting nearly 3,700 views for its post announcing the opening of the new V&A East Storehouse.

Hotels

Rosewood Hotels ranked much higher than usual this quarter, in 4th place – up from 12th in Q1 and 15th in 2024. This is thanks to one post with more than 100k views, the highest number of views that WeChat displays. This 618 promotion features Rosewood properties in Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

618 promotion from Rosewood Hotels, Holiday Inn’s 50th anniversary in Greater China, and family travel at Marriott

InterContinental, which ranked 1st, also published an article that received more than 100k views, celebrating Holiday Inn’s 50th anniversary in Greater China, with Hong Kong actress Cecilia Yip. Marriott’s top article (63k views) promoted family travel for summer, while both Marriott and InterContinental received high view numbers for articles about member discounts and loyalty program benefits.

Airports

With more than twice as many views (and nearly twice as many average views per post) as Hong Kong International Airport in 2nd place, Singapore’s Changi Airport is definitely the most popular international airport account on WeChat. Changi won Stytrax’s “World’s Best Airport” no. 1 ranking this year, for the 13th time, and the airport celebrated on WeChat with a list of 13 reasons to love Singapore Changi. They also promoted last-minute May Labor Day travel to Singapore and boasted that Changi is somewhere you leave your “work feeling” behind as soon as you arrive, emphasizing how relaxing, smooth, and enjoyable the airport experience is.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong International Airport promoted facilities for children, such as play areas and shops – along with a trendy AI-generated video that transformed things around the airport into Jellycat-style toys (more on this trend here). They also published a popular post congratulating recent graduates and recommending places around the airport for graduation photos and videos.

Car Rental

Avis stands out among international car rental accounts, with more than three times as many views as anyone else. Their most-read article this quarter, with 8,433 views, was a guide to driving in Germany – it stressed that just because Germany has motorways without speed limits, that doesn’t mean there are no traffic rules. They also published a popular article about self-driving in Switzerland for senior travelers, and a practical international guide to hand signals and headlight etiquette.

The most popular article from Hertz, in 2nd place, and attracting 850 views, promoted self-driving travel in the UAE and Oman over the May Labor Day holiday. The article offered itineraries for each of the two countries, stressing that they are both visa-free and safe travel destinations.