How to Attract Chinese Tourists Through Little Red Book? (2025)

Are you struggling to attract Chinese tourists through Xiaohongshu? You are not alone. But it is not as hard as it looks once you understand what the platform actually rewards.

With over 300 million monthly active users in 2024, Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) is the most important discovery platform for Chinese travel. It is where Chinese travelers go to research destinations, save hotels, check reviews, and decide where they want to go next. If your destination or property isn’t visible on Xiaohongshu, you are missing the first step in the Chinese travel funnel.

“Xiaohongshu is China’s go-to platform for travel inspiration, lifestyle content, and experience-sharing. If you’re in tourism, hotels, or luxury experiences, you need to be on Xiaohongshu.” — Philip Chen, GMA

Here is how travel brands can use Xiaohongshu to reach Chinese travelers and drive bookings.

4 Key Facts on Xiaohongshu for Travel (2024-2025)

• Xiaohongshu has over 300 million monthly active users, predominantly women aged 18-35 in first and second-tier Chinese cities.
• Travel content is one of the top categories on the platform by both posts and engagement. Users actively search for destination guides, hotel reviews, and itinerary inspiration.
• Around 88.8% of Xiaohongshu users are women, making it particularly relevant for travel brands targeting younger female travelers and couples.
• Posts with specific, personal titles (like “How I spent 5 days in Paris for under 5,000 RMB”) consistently outperform generic destination guides by a wide margin on engagement.

Source: Xiaohongshu official data and QuestMobile China

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Set Up Your Xiaohongshu Business Account

Create a verified business account (企业号) to access analytics, ads, and official branding. Fill in a clear bio with search-friendly keywords, such as “Luxury hotel in Maldives | Direct booking offers”. Use a consistent visual identity that matches your brand.

The Maldives Tourism Board runs a verified Xiaohongshu account with hotel partnerships and strong visual content. That presence directly supports Chinese bookings.

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Tell Stories, Don’t Sell

Chinese travelers trust personal travel stories more than promotional content. Structure your posts as real experiences rather than ads. “My first time in Santorini” or “What to know before visiting Morocco” performs far better than “Book now”.

A Dubai travel agency posting “How I spent 5 days in Dubai for under 5,000 RMB” drives real organic engagement. That is the kind of content Xiaohongshu users share.

Use the Right Titles and Hashtags

Xiaohongshu has its own search engine. Travel content needs titles that include relevant keywords to get discovered. Use trending travel hashtags like:

• #TravelItinerary (旅游攻略)
• #HiddenGemDestinations (小众旅行地)
• #MustVisitHotels (必住酒店)

A post titled “5 secret spots in Paris only locals know” gets roughly 10 times more engagement than a basic “Paris travel guide”.

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Invest in Visual Quality

Xiaohongshu is a visual platform. Bright, aesthetic images and short videos drive engagement. Include hotel interiors, food close-ups, and scenic shots. Use vertical video (9:16 ratio) for better performance in the video feed. A Santorini resort featuring golden-hour balcony shots gets direct booking enquiries through the comments.

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Use Paid Ads

Run targeted ads at high-income travelers and luxury buyers. Native in-feed ads work best when they look like organic content. Use travel wishlists and special offers to improve click-through rates. A French winery running Xiaohongshu ads targeted at Chinese honeymooners in Europe saw a direct increase in private tour bookings.

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Engage in Comments and DMs

Respond to questions quickly. Xiaohongshu users trust brands that interact with them. Use DMs for booking links, package details, and exclusive offers. A hotel in Bali responding to comments about room views turned casual interest into confirmed bookings regularly.

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Run Giveaway Contests

Travel giveaways generate real engagement. Ask users to comment, share, and tag friends to enter. Offer a staycation, spa package, or dining experience as the prize. A luxury hotel in Japan ran a “Win a free night stay” contest and got over 10,000 shares in 48 hours.

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Cross-Promote with WeChat and Douyin

Repurpose Xiaohongshu content for WeChat posts. Convert short videos into Douyin ads. Include QR codes linking to WeChat booking mini-programs in your Xiaohongshu posts. A safari tour in South Africa cross-promoted behind-the-scenes wildlife content on both platforms and saw a sharp increase in group enquiries.

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Work With Chinese Travel Seasons

Golden Week, 520 (Chinese Valentine’s Day), Qixi Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival are peak travel planning periods. Post seasonal deals and holiday itineraries 1-2 months in advance. A luxury mall in Dubai promoting a “VIP Chinese New Year Shopping Tour” consistently attracts high-spending Chinese visitors through this approach.

What Is Xiaohongshu?

Xiaohongshu is based in Shanghai and has over 300 million active users, mostly young women. Think of it as Instagram combined with a product review site and e-commerce platform. Users share short videos and photos about beauty, lifestyle, and travel. The platform runs on user-generated content and peer recommendations, which is exactly why it has so much influence over purchase decisions.

Foreign brands can now open stores on the platform and sell through cross-border e-commerce. For travel brands, this means you can take bookings and sell experiences directly from your Xiaohongshu profile.

Who Uses It

The core user base is post-90s urban Chinese women, concentrated in first and second-tier cities. They are well-educated, have disposable income, and follow trends closely. About 88.8% of users are women. Nearly 90% are in top-tier cities. If your target audience is young, urban, affluent Chinese women, mastering Xiaohongshu is one of the most direct routes to them.

How Xiaohongshu Shapes Travel Decisions

Xiaohongshu is now the main source of outbound travel inspiration for Chinese travelers. Users share photos, videos, and detailed reviews of their trips. A post about a hidden restaurant or a specific hotel can go viral within hours. The platform’s combination of social content and e-commerce gives brands real opportunities to shape where people go next.

KOL Marketing on Xiaohongshu

KOLs on Xiaohongshu start as regular users who build a following around specific topics. Their recommendations carry real weight because they are perceived as genuine, not paid. Working with the right KOLs can put your destination or hotel in front of a highly engaged audience. The Cape Dara Resort in Thailand used this approach: they invited KOLs to visit and create content, which drove direct interest and bookings from their followers.

Final Summary: How to Win on Xiaohongshu for Travel

• Make your brand profile search-friendly and visually consistent.
• Work with KOCs and influencers whose audiences match your target traveler.
• Use high-quality visuals and short video to stand out in a crowded feed.
• Respond to comments and DMs fast: turn interest into direct bookings.
• Run targeted ad campaigns when organic reach isn’t enough.

For more on RED marketing in China, see our full Xiaohongshu marketing services.

Work With GMA: Douyin, Little Red Book, and WeChat

Douyin: Chinese travelers discover destinations on Douyin. GMA runs full campaigns, from KOL identification to content and performance reports. See our Douyin services.

Little Red Book (RED): We build brand accounts, manage content, and run influencer campaigns on Xiaohongshu. Travel and hospitality clients use our RED services to drive awareness and convert it to bookings. See our RED services.

WeChat: Official accounts, mini-programs, and CRM. We set up and manage WeChat presence to turn interest into paying customers. See our WeChat services.

Everything in one place: our services.

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Oliver Verot is the founder of GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency) in Shanghai. He has spent 15 years helping travel and hospitality brands connect with Chinese tourists through digital marketing. He was using Xiaohongshu for client campaigns before most Western brands had heard of it.