【Business Insight】Xiaohongshu's "Check-in Culture" Leading a New Trend: How Mainland Tourists Are Reshaping the Hong Kong Travel Experience?

According to None's statistics, during the 2025 May Day Golden Week, the total number of visitors to Hong Kong reached 1.1 million, an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year. Among them, mainland tourists accounted for as many as 920,000, a year-on-year increase of 20%, becoming the main force driving local tourism. Compared to the past reliance on traditional travel websites or offline information, nowadays, many young mainland tourists generally plan their itineraries through social platforms like Xiaohongshu. From attraction recommendations, transportation guides to dining experiences, all tend towards inspiration-driven content-oriented decision-making.Therefore, by analyzing social data from Xiaohongshu, we can not only gain insights into the changing patterns and preferences of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong but also provide more targeted tourism strategy references for authorities and the industry.

Transformation of Mainland Tourist Patterns: From Shopping to "Check-ins, Experiences, and Resonance"

Through Hong Kong Yuan Da's AI big data mining platform xMiner, by analyzing Hong Kong travel content on Xiaohongshu from May to July 2025, it was observed that mainland tourists' travel patterns are transforming from "shopping-oriented" to "experience-oriented," driven primarily by "check-ins," "cultural resonance," and "emotional engagement." This not only reshaped Hong Kong's tourism image but also provided the industry with a fresh development perspective.

Check-in Culture Rises, Gradually Dominating Travel Choices

According to data analysis, the main purpose of mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong is for "check-in experiences". Looking at the distribution of attraction types, "influencer check-in/street photography spots" are the most popular type of attraction, accounting for 38.8%, indicating that the visual appeal of check-ins and their potential for social media sharing have become the primary factors in choosing attractions. This is followed by traditional popular attractions (36.5%). Tourists still maintain a strong interest in Hong Kong's historical buildings and city landmarks such as Victoria Harbour, The Peak, Victoria Peak Tram, and Disney, especially driven by factors of "check-in elements" and "Hong Kong characteristics", attracting a large number of Xiaohongshu users to interact.

In addition, niche attractions (9.6%) and suburban/outlying island activities (9.7%) also showed a certain degree of popularity. Many mainland tourists would include activities like "Hong Kong Hiking Day Tours" to explore niche attractions in their Hong Kong itinerary, and give these niche attractions nicknames. For example, Ngong Ping Campsite is referred to as "Hong Kong's Altay," Long Ke Wan and Sai Wan are "Hong Kong's Maldives," and Lam Tsuen in Tai Po is "Hong Kong's Furano," etc. This shows that some mainland tourists are no longer satisfied with traditional popular locations and are more actively seeking out Hong Kong's "overlooked corners." Unique experiences (5.4%) emphasize the demand for "deep local immersion," such as taking photos in traditional costumes, experiencing nostalgic bing sutt (ice cafes), or interacting at markets.

Overall, when mainland tourists choose attractions to visit in Hong Kong, "Instagrammable elements" and "Hong Kong characteristics" are their top considerations. They are no longer solely attracted to Hong Kong by shopping, but tend to seek experiential scenes with a Hong Kong cultural atmosphere, reshaping a new generation of "stylized tourism" models.

"Special Forces-style" Travel to Hong Kong on the Rise

High-density itinerary design is gradually becoming the mainstream choice for mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong. According to Xiaohongshu data, as many as 58.5% of tourists tend to adopt the "Special Forces-style" tourism model—meaning they visit multiple attractions in one day, with a tight and fast-paced itinerary. However, this does not mean they are merely superficially taking photos for social media check-ins.In fact, up to 68.5% of "commando-style tourists" primarily aim to "deeply experience attractions," while shopping and gourmet food account for 19.9% and 11.6% respectively.

This reflects that mainland tourists are more inclined to "intensively experience Hong Kong's local culture within a limited time" rather than simply shopping or sightseeing. Therefore, the "commando-style" travel approach has higher demands for attraction selection, transportation arrangements, information integration, and recommended routes, relying more on detailed and highly efficient travel guides and planning, which further gives rise to popular content on Xiaohongshu such as "check-in route packages" and "one-day trip lazy bags."

Dining and Experiential Activities Become the Main Drivers of Consumption

From the perspective of tourist spending structure, dining expenses (36.9%) have become the largest expenditure item for mainland tourists visiting Hong Kong, surpassing luxury goods and cosmetics shopping (22.7%). Although the primary motivation for tourists visiting Hong Kong remains focused on experiencing attractions, many popular photo spots, such as street architecture and natural landscapes, are free or low-cost venues. Therefore, dining has become the core consumption behavior with the highest "willingness to pay." It also reflects that mainland tourists are increasingly valuing "food" as an important way to experience Hong Kong culture. Dining brands with a strong "Hong Kong flavor" such as cha chaan tengs, nostalgic bing sutt (ice houses), Bakehouse egg tarts, and Jenny Bakery cookies are highly popular, which also aligns with the "stylized dining + culturally immersive travel" content trend popular on Xiaohongshu.

In addition, under the image of a high-consumption city, "Budget travel in Hong Kong" has also become a popular discussion topic on Xiaohongshu. Many posts share how to travel Hong Kong on a limited budget (e.g., RMB 1000), including "budget travel guides" recommending low-cost hotels, staying overnight at McDonald's, and purchasing discounted tickets with student IDs, reflecting that some mainland Chinese tourists are looking for cost-effective and practical ways to travel in Hong Kong.

Pain Points Emerge: Transportation and Hotel Prices Create a Disconnect in Experience

However, as travel patterns change, pain points for tourists are gradually emerging. "Inconvenient transportation" is currently the biggest concern for mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong, accounting for 45%, covering issues such as high-speed rail transfers, complex Hong Kong public transportation, and crowded popular attractions; followed by "excessive hotel prices" (28.9%), especially during holidays and peak tourist seasons, the soaring hotel prices have brought considerable financial pressure to mainland Chinese tourists.Despite the aforementioned challenges, mainland tourists' sentiment towards Hong Kong tourism remains predominantly positive, reaching 91.8%. Tourists are generally satisfied with Hong Kong's attractions, food quality, and social experiences.

Although the above travel pain points have not hindered mainland tourists' willingness to visit Hong Kong, there is indeed room for optimization at the policy and service levels. Currently, the "Nine Major Tourist Hotspots" promoted by the Hong Kong government cover experiences such as local culture, night markets, and outlying islands, which highly align with mainland tourists' preferences, especially the "check-in + unique experience" travel combination. However, data also shows a clear experience gap in areas such as transportation connectivity and payment inconvenience, especially for niche attractions, which require more comprehensive supporting facilities.

From data to action, enhancing policy effectiveness and user satisfaction. Xiaohongshu, as a core entry point, has not only changed the way mainland tourists visit Hong Kong, but also allowed Hong Kong to find new positioning opportunities among fiercely competitive Asian cities globally. As an AI technology company with multi-social platform, multi-language, and multi-modal data processing capabilities, uMax Data's data insights and solutions have covered various fields such as retail, education, local life, and brand marketing, providing enterprises with full-chain data-driven decision support from market trends to user behavior.

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