South Korea and Japan were the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists in 2023

When Chinese travelers started going abroad again after three years of closed borders the first question everyone asked was: where will they go? The answer in 2023 was clear. South Korea and Japan came out on top. In 2026 these two destinations are still dominant, but the reasons have evolved and the competition is getting tougher.

Why Asia First?

Asia has always been the top region for Chinese outbound travel. In 2019 about 85 million of the 116 million Chinese travelers who went abroad stayed in Asia. Europe got roughly 3.4 million, Africa around 2.7 million. The numbers show the reality: short flights, familiar food, lower costs and easy visa access make Asia the default choice for most Chinese tourists.

After Covid this preference got even stronger. People wanted to travel again but many felt uncertain about long-haul trips. South Korea and Japan are two to four hours by flight from any major Chinese city. That matters.

South Korea: Shopping, K-Pop and Easy Visas

South Korea received around 6.1 million Chinese tourists in 2023 according to data from the Korea Tourism Organization. The numbers keep growing. Several things explain this.

First there is the Hallyu effect, or the Korean Wave. K-pop, K-dramas, Korean skincare brands. Chinese consumers, especially young women, have followed Korean culture for over a decade. Visiting Seoul means walking the streets they saw in their favorite dramas. It means buying the skincare brands they see on WeChat.

Second there is duty-free shopping. Korean duty-free stores offer luxury goods at prices lower than China and lower than most European countries. A Chinese visitor can buy a Dior handbag or a La Mer cream for significantly less than at home. This matters for a group that spends heavily on shopping. Jeju Island also offers visa-free entry for Chinese visitors which removes one friction point entirely.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Chinese tourist spending in South Korea grew by over 40% in the first half of 2025 compared to 2024, with beauty products and luxury goods leading the categories.

Japan: The Weak Yen Made It Irresistible

Japan had a complicated few years with Chinese tourism before Covid. Political tensions over the Senkaku Islands and anti-Japan sentiment hurt numbers between 2017 and 2019. But when borders reopened, Chinese travelers came back fast. The reason: the yen.

Japan’s currency weakened significantly after 2022. For Chinese travelers this meant everything felt cheap. Luxury goods, cosmetics, food, hotels. Japan added cosmetics to its duty-free category which made brands like Shiseido even more attractive to buy there. The result was a rush. Chinese travelers discovered that a trip to Tokyo could feel like a luxury experience at a reasonable price.

Beyond shopping Japanese culture itself is deeply admired in China. Food especially. Sushi, ramen, wagyu beef. Many Chinese travelers now plan trips around food experiences. They research restaurants on Mafengwo (mafengwo.cn) and book months in advance.

What Jon Wang Thinks About This Trend

“South Korea and Japan are not just shopping destinations anymore. They have become aspirational places for Chinese millennials and Gen Z travelers who want cultural depth, good food, and things they can show on social media. The Douyin effect is huge here. One popular video about a ramen restaurant in Osaka can send thousands of Chinese tourists to that exact place within weeks. Destinations need to understand that Chinese travelers in 2025 and 2026 are driven as much by content as by traditional tourism marketing. If you are not on Douyin and RED you are invisible to this segment.”

Jon Wang, analyst at CTA

Case Study: A Seoul Boutique Hotel and the Power of KOL Content

Ji-yeon Park had been running a 30-room design hotel in Hongdae, Seoul for four years. Good reviews, strong local bookings but her Chinese clientele was almost nonexistent in 2023. She knew the potential was there but didn’t know how to reach it.

In early 2024 she partnered with a Chinese marketing agency. The first step was creating a Chinese-language page on her website and registering on Ctrip. The second step was the one that changed everything: a Douyin campaign with a Chinese KOL who specialized in Asia travel content.

The KOL visited for two nights in March 2024 and posted three short videos. One showed the hotel’s rooftop view at night. One was a morning routine video in the room. The third was a walk through the local street food market nearby. Together the three videos got 2.8 million views in two weeks.

Results were immediate. Within 48 hours of the first video Ji-yeon received 140 booking inquiries through WeChat. Her Ctrip page went from 3 reviews to 87 reviews in three months. Average Chinese booking stayed 2.4 nights with a spend of 380 USD per night. By end of 2024 Chinese guests accounted for 34% of all her bookings, compared to 2% before the campaign.

Ji-yeon now hires a part-time Mandarin-speaking receptionist and accepts WeChat Pay. She is planning a second KOL campaign for 2026 targeting the Golden Week holiday in October.

How to Attract Chinese Tourists to Your Korea or Japan Business

Being in a popular destination is not enough. Chinese tourists do almost all their research on Chinese platforms and they don’t trust content that looks corporate. Here is what actually works, if you want to learn more about the tools available check our guide to Chinese tourist social media:

• Be present on Ctrip and Mafengwo with updated Chinese content and photos
• Run a WeChat Official Account with regular posts about your destination
• Partner with Douyin or RED influencers for authentic video content
• Accept Alipay and WeChat Pay at your establishment
• Post in Chinese with correct simplified characters, not just Google Translate

Quick Summary: Korea vs Japan for Chinese Tourists

Factor	South Korea	Japan
Flight time from Shanghai	~2 hours	~3 hours
Main draw	K-pop culture, skincare, duty-free	Food, luxury goods, weak yen
Visa requirement	Visa required (Jeju visa-free)	Visa required
Social media trend	Strong on RED, Weibo	Strong on Douyin, Mafengwo
Average spend per trip	~$1,800	~$2,200

How CTA Can Help You Reach Chinese Tourists in Asia

Our team at CTA works with tourism businesses in Korea, Japan and across Asia to build visibility with Chinese travelers. We offer:

• Douyin (TikTok China) campaigns with local or Chinese visiting KOLs
• WeChat Official Account management for consistent presence and audience building
• Baidu SEO and PPC to capture high-intent search traffic from China
• RED (Xiaohongshu) influencer marketing for lifestyle and travel content
• Chinese website design and localization for your hotel, restaurant or tour operator
• KOL and KOC partnerships matched to your budget and audience

About CTA

Chinese Tourists Agency is a Chinese digital marketing agency based in Shanghai, operating since 2012. We work with tourism brands, hotels, real estate companies and luxury businesses that want to attract Chinese clients. Our services cover Douyin, WeChat, Baidu, RED and Chinese website design. We have helped hundreds of international brands build real visibility in China. See all our services at chinesetouristagency.com/our-services.

Written by Claire, Chinese tourism marketing specialist at CTA. March 2026.