New requirements for keeping Chinese tourists

Chinese outbound tourism is growing again and the travelers coming out of China in 2026 are different from those who traveled before the pandemic. They have higher expectations. They are more digitally connected. And they are less patient with destinations or businesses that are not ready for them. If you want to attract and keep Chinese visitors, you need to know what they now expect.

According to the China National Tourism Administration (cnta.gov.cn), outbound travel volumes in 2025 are on track to exceed 2019 numbers for most short and medium-haul routes. And People’s Daily (people.com.cn) has reported that the profile of outbound Chinese travelers is shifting, with more independent travelers, more women, and more travelers from second and third-tier cities entering the market. The requirements are evolving with this new audience.

Requirement 1: Mobile Payments Without Friction

This is the baseline. If you do not accept Alipay or WeChat Pay, a growing share of Chinese visitors will simply spend less or choose a competitor who does. Mobile payment is not a preference for most Chinese travelers under 45. It is how they pay for everything. Cash feels foreign to them abroad in the same way it feels foreign to them at home.

Setup is not difficult. Third-party processors like Adyen or Stripe both support Chinese payment apps. International versions of Alipay and WeChat Pay have dedicated merchant programs for overseas businesses. Budget about two to four weeks and a few hundred euros or dollars for setup. The return on that investment is visible quickly.

Requirement 2: Chinese Language Support

You do not need a full-time Mandarin-speaking staff member at every property. But you do need some level of Chinese language support. At minimum this means: a Chinese-language version of your website or booking page, a WeChat contact option for inquiries, and key signage in your facility available in Chinese.

For hotels it goes further. Chinese guests appreciate menus with Chinese translations, a welcome note in Mandarin, and staff who can at least say hello and point them in the right direction. Small gestures matter more than people think. They communicate respect and readiness.

Requirement 3: Visible Chinese Social Media Presence

Before Chinese travelers decide to visit your hotel or destination they check Xiaohongshu, Douyin, and sometimes Mafengwo. If they can not find you there, or if they find old content and no recent activity, it creates doubt. A strong social media presence aimed at Chinese tourists is now a prerequisite for attracting them, not an optional extra.

This does not mean you need to be everywhere. Pick two or three platforms that fit your type of business and be consistent. A hotel benefits most from Xiaohongshu and WeChat. A city destination or attraction gets strong results from Douyin. A luxury brand should add RED influencer content.

Requirement 4: Food Options That Work For Chinese Tastes

Food is important to Chinese travelers in a way that stands out compared to most other nationalities. They want to experience local food but they also want a fallback option. A hotel breakfast with no rice, no congee, and no familiar Chinese option will get negative reviews on Ctrip. This is one of the most common complaints Chinese travelers make about international hotels.

You do not need a full Chinese restaurant. A few items at breakfast, a noodle station, or a nearby Chinese restaurant that you can recommend (and have a partnership with) solves the problem and shows visitors that you thought about their needs.

Requirement 5: Fast and Responsive Digital Communication

Chinese travelers research a lot before they arrive. They also ask questions. Through WeChat, through OTA chat functions, through Xiaohongshu comments. If your responses are slow or if you only check messages once a day, you will lose inquiries to competitors who respond faster. The expectation in China is a reply within a few hours, not a few days.

This means you need someone who manages Chinese platform communications actively. It can be part of an existing role or handled through an agency, but it can not be neglected.

What Philip Chen Says About These Requirements

Philip Chen has spent years helping international brands prepare for Chinese visitors. He puts it plainly: “Chinese tourists today have more choices than ever before. If your destination or property is hard for them to use, they will simply go somewhere else. The bar is higher now. Not because Chinese travelers are demanding, but because other destinations have raised their standards and created genuine competition.”

He continues: “The businesses that struggle are the ones that treat the Chinese market as an afterthought. They add a WeChat Pay sticker to the window and think they are done. The ones that do well genuinely invest in understanding what Chinese visitors need and build those things into their operation. That is a very different level of commitment.” Philip also notes that post-visit reviews are increasingly powerful: “One detailed positive review on Xiaohongshu from a real guest is worth more than ten sponsored posts. The Chinese travel community is smart and they can tell what is authentic.”

Case Study: How an Australian Tourism Operator Rebuilt Its Chinese Business

Tom Hargreaves runs a wildlife tour operator near Queensland. Before COVID, Chinese group tours made up about 30% of his business. When travel resumed he expected them to come back quickly. They did not. Groups came back slowly and his direct bookings from independent Chinese travelers were almost zero.

Tom talked to a Shanghai-based marketing contact who pointed out the obvious problem: Tom’s business had no visible presence on any Chinese platform. No Xiaohongshu page, no Douyin content, no WeChat contact option. Chinese travelers who searched for wildlife tours in Queensland found other operators, not him.

He spent three months building from scratch. He created a Xiaohongshu account and posted twice a week: animal encounters, sunrise photos at the tour site, guest reaction videos, and practical travel tip posts. He built a WeChat Official Account with a simple Chinese-language FAQ about his tours. He added Alipay as a payment option for direct bookings. He also worked with a KOC (a micro-influencer in the Chinese travel community) who visited his tour and wrote a detailed post that reached 45,000 readers.

Results came in steadily. Within six months, direct inquiries from Chinese travelers went from near zero to about 18 per month. Conversion rate on those inquiries was 62% because people arrived already informed and enthusiastic from the content they had seen. Average booking value from Chinese customers was 340 AUD per person, higher than his European visitors.

By end of 2025 Chinese travelers made up 21% of his total business. More importantly, his Chinese customers now drive referrals through their own social media posts after the tour. Tom estimates that every satisfied Chinese guest generates roughly three future inquiries through organic social sharing. That is a compounding effect that keeps working after the visit ends.

How to Start If You Are Not Ready Yet

Start with the basics. Mobile payments first, then a WeChat contact option, then content on one Chinese platform. You do not need to do everything at once. Each step makes your business more accessible to Chinese visitors and more visible in their research process.

If you want to move faster, working with a Chinese digital marketing agency gives you expertise and execution capacity that would take years to build internally. The agencies that specialize in tourism know exactly what works and can get you visible quickly.

How GMA Can Help

GMA helps international businesses build the presence and operations needed to attract and keep Chinese visitors. Our services include:

• Douyin (TikTok China) campaigns to make your brand visible to Chinese travelers early in their planning
• WeChat Official Account management to communicate directly with potential and past visitors
• Baidu SEO and PPC to capture search traffic from Chinese users looking for your destination
• RED (Xiaohongshu) influencer marketing to build credibility through real traveler content
• Chinese website design and localization to make your booking and information flow work in China
• KOL and KOC partnerships to reach engaged Chinese travel communities at scale

About GMA

GMA (Gentlemen Marketing Agency) is a Chinese digital marketing agency based in Shanghai, active since 2012. We work with tourism operators, hotels, real estate brands, and luxury companies that want to reach Chinese consumers effectively. Our campaigns run across Douyin, WeChat, Baidu, and RED, managed by a team with deep knowledge of Chinese digital platforms. Contact us to talk about what your business needs to attract Chinese visitors in 2026.

Written by Claire, March 2026. Claire covers Chinese outbound tourism trends and digital marketing strategy at GMA Shanghai.