Q3 2025 Weibo Rankings Report

Dragon Trail International’s Weibo Rankings Report tracks and analyzes performance for national tourism organizations (NTOs), destination marketing organizations (DMOs), airlines, airports, cruise lines, museums & attractions, and hotels. Our quarterly Weibo reports build industry benchmarks and uncover best practices in digital marketing in the travel sector.

The performance of travel brands’ content on Weibo in Q3 2025 underscores the potential for partnerships with Chinese celebrities and television shows to boost visibility and engagement online. Video content proved particularly effective in commanding consumers’ attention, while live events – particularly concerts – also helped to deliver strong results. The national tourism board rankings got a shake-up this quarter, with the TV show Divas Hit the Road and celebrity endorsements resulting in a few big changes to the leaderboard.

NTOs

Australia reclaimed its no. 1 ranking by total engagements in Q3, up from 5th place in Q2. What drove these engagements is the official “Friend of Australia,” actor Yu Shi. Australia’s top posts featured Yu Shi at an event for the tourism board’s “Come and Say G’Day” campaign and in short videos, as well as Yu Shi’s own photos taken while traveling in Australia.

The NTO rankings had a shake-up this quarter, with a number of accounts moving up the rankings because of their activities with Chinese celebrities and TV shows. Norway went from 20th place in Q2 to 2nd in Q3, while the Czech Republic moved from 42nd place to 3rd, South Africa from 31st to 4th, and Singapore from 17th to 5th. One of the biggest influences was the debut of the 7th season of the popular Chinese reality travel TV show, Divas Hit the Road. This season, which began on 16 August, includes Norway, the Czech Republic, Madagascar, and Egypt. Chile, which was featured in the 2024 season of the show, also joined a Weibo campaign to promote the new season, and received high engagement for this.

(Left to right) Yu Shi for Tourism Australia, Divas Hits the Road comes to Norway, and South African Tourism’s new brand ambassador, Lei Jiayin

South Africa’s rise up the rankings comes thanks to the tourism board’s new brand ambassador, actor Lei Jiayin, and a video of his safari experience. Singapore’s top post announced the lineup of September’s Bubbling Boiling Music Arts Festival.

DMOs

Tourism Australia’s brand friend Yu Shi gave an engagement boost to many Australian DMOs, four of which made the top 10 list, with Queensland moving up to 2nd place from 16th in Q2, and Tasmania going from 9th to 4th place. Queensland, Tasmania, Sydney, Gold Coast, and Victoria & Melbourne all shared photos and videos featuring Yu Shi and his support for Tourism Australia’s Come and Say G’Day campaign.

(Left to right): Yu Shi in Queensland, Lu Han concerts in Hong Kong, Liu Yifei in Abu Dhabi

At the top of the DMOs rankings for the second quarter in a row, Abu Dhabi’s top content was all micro-videos featuring actress Liu Yifei, as she experienced local culture and attractions, and encouraged viewers to head to Abu Dhabi for the Golden Week holiday. While we can’t say how much Liu Yifei impacted this growth, it’s worth noting that the Trip.com Group reported a 229% year-on-year increase in reservations for Abu Dhabi during the 2025 October National Day holiday.

Ranked 3rd, Hong Kong’s top Weibo posts of the quarter included information about Lu Han concerts in October, and a Cantonese tutorial video with actor Bai Jinting.

Airlines

Ranked 1st for total engagements, Cathay Pacific captured attention with high-quality videos in Q3. The most popular of these was a seven-minute documentary-style video about its in-flight catering, focusing on Hong Kong-style dishes and ingredients. Several popular shorter videos promoted the airline as the way to reach live events like concerts and sporting competitions, and to be active outdoors in serene landscapes around the world.

AirAsia continued to focus its strategy on partnerships with musicians and music events, with a Malaysia travel promotion featuring singer Bo Yuan, and sponsorship of the Chinese Top Ten Music Awards in Shanghai in August. All Nippon Airways raised follower engagement with a giveaway of round-trip air tickets between China and Japan, to celebrate its 15th anniversary.

Airports

Our rankings data reveals that airports receive more engagement on both WeChat and Xiaohongshu (RedNote) than on Weibo, suggesting that this might not be the ideal platform for airport marketing. Strongly in the lead, Hong Kong International Airport’s top posts were text-heavy and offered lots of suggestions – for example, long lists of shopping recommendations, autumn dining recommendations, and tips for hot summer weather at the hotel. Ranked second, and with an astonishing 162.49% engagement rate, Sihanoukville Airport promoted local tourism – such as a video of Sokha Beach and tips for visiting the city of Kampot – rather than any information about the airport. The high engagement rate related to the account’s very low follower numbers, since Sihanoukville Airport is a new account and seems to be engaging in some promotion to get started. It began Q3 with just five followers, and ended with 82. In 3rd place for total engagements, Zurich Airport shared information on where in the airport to watch the Women’s World Cup quarter-final featuring the Swiss team, and they also joined a Weibo-wide campaign for World Tourism Day on 27 September.

Cruise Lines

Cruise lines again failed to generate much engagement on Weibo this past quarter, with the most popular post – from Viking Cruises – receiving just 13 likes. Another top post in the category, Princess Cruises received only seven entries for a giveaway that asked followers to vote for an on-board dining experience. Royal Caribbean’s most engaging post was a video promoting the cruise line’s sponsorship of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament.

Attractions and Museums

Hong Kong Disneyland celebrated its 20th anniversary this summer, engaging celebrities like singer Henry Lau and actor Eazin to visit the park and shoot videos there to promote special experiences for the anniversary. These posts generated especially high engagements.

Just added to the list of attractions tracked by Dragon Trail on Weibo in Q2, Germany’s Porsche Museum is already standing out, with high engagement for posts about both race cars and consumer models. These posts are photo-based rather than videos, and they don’t feature any celebrities, but they do benefit from the Porsche brand name and popularity.

(Left to right) Henry Lau at Hong Kong Disneyland; the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany; the British Museum’s take on The Life of a Showgirl

Among other top museums, the Louvre attracted the most engagements for one post about a painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and another about a hot air balloon made famous during the 2024 Paris Olympics, which ascended daily again this summer. One of the most-liked posts in the category this quarter came from the British Museum, with art from the museum related to Taylor Swift’s new album, The Life of a Showgirl.

Hotels

Holiday Inn stayed at the top of the Weibo rankings for a second quarter in a row, thanks to its partnership with brand ambassador Cecilia Yip. The 62-year-old actress starred in two very emotionally resonant short videos for the hotel brand – one focused on friendship, while aging was the theme of the other. After the release of these videos in July, Holiday Inn has not posted again on Weibo.

(Left to right) Cecilia Yip for Holiday Inn, Marina Bay Sands’ actor interview, Isabelle Huang at Bulgari Hotel Shanghai

Canadian singer Henry Lau wasn’t only the most popular celebrity featured in Hong Kong Disneyland’s Weibo marketing in Q3 2025 – he appeared again on Marina Bay Sands’ feed, with a post about his concert at Sands Theatre. The Singaporean hotel’s other post with the most engagements was an exclusive interview at the hotel with Wu Xuanyi and Zhai Xiaowen, the stars of popular TV series Love in Pavilion.

Ranked second for total engagements, Bulgari Hotels’ top posts were photos and video featuring singer Isabelle Huang at the Bulgari Hotel Shanghai.