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Chinese tourists are no longer planning trips around a simple checklist of cities and attractions.
They are planning around moments.
A café worth photographing.
A store worth saving.
A product worth bringing home.
A walking route that feels useful, beautiful, or shareable.
A recommendation that has already been tested by someone else.
This is why Xiaohongshu and Mafengwo matter.
Xiaohongshu turns travel into inspiration.
Mafengwo turns that inspiration into a usable plan.
For Australian brands, the opportunity is not just to be seen by Chinese tourists.
It is to become part of the trip they are building.
What brands need to know first
China is again one of Australia’s most important visitor markets. Arrivals from China crossed the 1 million mark for the year ending December 2025, while Chinese travellers spent a record A$12.3 billion on Australian trips for the year ending September 2025. China also ranks first in total expenditure for Australia.
That spending does not happen randomly.
It is planned, saved, searched, discussed and validated long before the customer walks into a store, hotel, restaurant or attraction.
This is part of the bigger picture we covered in our pillar guide on how Australian brands capture Chinese tourist spending in 2026.
Xiaohongshu creates the desire
Xiaohongshu is where the trip starts to feel real.
A user might search for:
- what to buy in Australia
- Sydney shopping guide
- Melbourne café recommendations
- Gold Coast family itinerary
- best skincare to buy in Australia
- Australia travel tips
What they find is not traditional advertising.
They find real posts, creator recommendations, photo-heavy guides, comments, saved notes and “this is worth it” style content.
That is why Xiaohongshu is powerful. It does not feel like a travel brochure. It feels like advice from someone who has already done the trip.
TravelDaily’s 2026 coverage of Xiaohongshu’s travel ecosystem reported that the platform had over 230 million travel-interest users, with more than 80% searching for travel guides and more than 2.4 billion travel searches generated during November and December 2025.
For brands, this changes the job.
You are not just trying to appear in search.
You are trying to become something worth saving.
Mafengwo turns interest into a plan
If Xiaohongshu creates the spark, Mafengwo helps organise the trip.
Mafengwo is more useful when travellers are trying to structure the journey:
- Which cities should we include?
- How many days do we need?
- What order should we visit places in?
- Which attractions are worth the time?
- What should we avoid?
- What can families do together?
This is where itinerary logic becomes important.
A brand might be interesting on Xiaohongshu, but if it does not fit into the trip structure, it can still be skipped.
Tourism Australia identifies Mafengwo as one of the successful online travel portals in China, alongside platforms such as Trip.com, Qunar, Tongcheng and Tuniu.
Mafengwo’s 2026 Spring Festival data also shows why itinerary planning matters. TravelDaily reported that during the 2026 Spring Festival period, outbound travel service bookings on Mafengwo grew nearly 30% year on year, Australia ranked among the top 10 outbound destinations, and trips longer than five days accounted for 59.6% of orders.
Longer trips create more room for brands to enter the itinerary. But only if they are visible before the plan is locked.
The 2026 shift: interest comes first
The old travel model was destination first.
Pick Australia.
Pick Sydney or Melbourne.
Then decide what to do.
The 2026 model is different.
Interest comes first.
Xiaohongshu and Fliggy’s 2026 Labor Day travel trends showed interest-led itineraries around food, photography and other hobbies becoming major drivers of destination choice. Xiaohongshu data also showed that 69% of users selected destinations based on personal interests.
That is a big shift.
Chinese tourists are not just asking:
Should I visit Australia?
They are asking:
Where can I have this specific experience?
That experience might be a café aesthetic, a wildlife encounter, a shopping route, a wellness product, a luxury moment, a family-friendly attraction or a local food experience.
For Australian brands, this means content should not only say “visit us”.
It should answer:
Why are we worth adding to your trip?
Where Australian brands fit into the journey
Australian brands need to stop thinking of Chinese tourists as people they meet only after arrival.
The better view is:
They are already your audience before they fly.
A retailer should think about saved shopping lists.
A hotel should think about itinerary fit.
A restaurant should think about social proof.
A tourism operator should think about route placement.
A local brand should think about why its product feels uniquely Australian.
Tourism Australia’s China snapshot also notes that Chinese travellers are increasingly interested in immersive local experiences, including Australian produce, seafood, wine, coffee experiences and family-friendly educational activities.
That gives brands a clear direction.
Do not just promote the product.
Promote the role your product plays in the trip.
Xiaohongshu content vs Mafengwo content
The two platforms need different content styles.
On Xiaohongshu, content should feel personal
Good Xiaohongshu content is visual, searchable and experience-led.
It should show:
- what the experience looks like
- why it is worth saving
- what other travellers liked
- what to buy or try
- what makes it different
- how it fits into a real trip
The tone should feel useful, not corporate.
On Mafengwo, content should feel practical
Mafengwo content needs more structure.
It should help travellers understand:
- how long to spend
- where the location fits in an itinerary
- what nearby places can be combined
- whether it suits families, couples or groups
- what to prepare before visiting
- what the traveller should not miss
In simple terms:
Xiaohongshu makes people want to go.
Mafengwo helps them work out how to go.
What this means for brands
Chinese tourists are not waiting to be convinced after they land.
They are building the trip before they arrive.
Xiaohongshu shapes what feels desirable.
Mafengwo helps turn that desire into a route.
The brands that win are the ones that appear early enough to be saved, trusted and added to the plan.
Digital Crew helps brands build that visibility across Chinese platforms, so they are not just discovered during the trip, but considered before the itinerary is complete.
