Market Research: How is the Middle East Seen on Rednote?

The China outbound travel market is difficult to understand and predict for most, if not all, global tourism destinations. Language, Chinese culture – both ancient and online – as well as the Great Firewall and tight data controls make understanding China’s consumer markets highly complex.

The Create Consulting team has been working for several months now to bridge this gap for travel brands worldwide looking to achieve one, most important thing: understanding how China’s wealthiest and most influential social media users – Rednote users – see their destination.

Ranking the Middle East’s Tourism Destinations

With our analytics platform, we’ve taken the first step toward helping the Middle East benchmark their efforts on Rednote: a basic ranking of attention. Who has gotten the most attention in tourism content and conversations on Rednote since the platform’s inception?

This ranking shows how many views posts with terms related to tourism or travel in the respective destination have received on Rednote historically. It should be noted that, for this ranking, there was insufficient Rednote travel and tourism content to reliably rank Kuwait, Palestine and Lebanon.

Egypt and Turkey emerge here as juggernauts, with either destination’s views roughly being equivalent to all the other remaining 12 destinations combined. The second “pack” of high achievers include Qatar, Syria and the UAE. These views, of course, are not directly correlated or even related to active investments made by the destinations in tourism. Rather, it’s reflective of the amount of questions, discussion, attention and airtime a destination is getting on Rednote.

Moderate performers include Jordan, Iraq, Iran and Oman, while Israel and Saudi Arabia make up the lower moderate pack of the destinations. It should be emphasised here that this is all-time historical data for Rednote, which biases views in favour of more established destinations like Egypt - a brand with very longstanding and almost unbreakable brand in the China market. Future analysis might look at focusing in on the past 5 years, which would almost certainly see Saudi Arabia pull ahead.

What exactly is Rednote interested in?

With the ranking in mind, we now look at what the exact experiences, perceptions, concerns and associations are that Rednote users have with each destination. The keywords tables will be included in a link at the end of this report as an addendum, while the following section will highlight important strategic points for each destination.

Star performers: Egypt and Türkiye

Egypt has a tourism footprint in China like no other. The prevalence of “Ancient Egypt” (156 million views), “Pyramids of Egypt” (131 million) and “Cleopatra” (51 million) paint a clear picture: China is obsessed with ancient cultures like its own.

Another clear takeaway from Egypt’s top tourism keywords is the importance of leveraging ancient cultural exhibitions in China itself to promote the destination’s travel brand. The Shanghai Museum’s recent special exhibition of ancient Egypt alone brings in a staggering 132 million views – to put that in perspective, the median view count of Middle Eastern countries’ tourism categories as a whole is 41.7 million.

Egypt’s travel term breakdown also shows clearly how Rednote is used as a search engine for everything from services (like “tour guide in Egypt”, 34.9 million views) to peer-recommended experience guides (“Egypt Travel Guide, 115.5 million views) and also avoiding pitfalls (“Don’t get scammed in Egypt”, 50.1 million views).

It also shows, on a smaller scale, the concerns of Rednote’s predominantly wealthy, urban, adventurous and female user base. There’s interest in free independent travel (FIT) to Egypt (15.6 million views), Egyptian cuisine (8.9 million views) and “the real Egypt” (3.3 million views).

This fits well with the going understanding of Rednote users: they’re willing to explore, try out local food and crave in-depth connection with destinations and people. Unlike their parents who stuck to group tours with Chinese food all the way, they’re looking for differentiation.

Türkiye tells a different story with some similarities to Egypt. Its views are far more broadly distributed under a number of key terms. Among the country’s top 10 key terms are “Turkish hot air balloon” (42.5 million views), “Romantic Türkiye” (23.4 million) and “Earthquake in Türkiye” (51 million) and “Cappadocia” (5.6 million), indicative of the strong investments that the country has made in Rednote, but also the power of crisis events to shape traveler behaviour.

With the volume of Chinese travellers who have visited Türkiye, a number of Chinese memes around the country have emerged – most notably “Stray animal paradise Türkiye” (3.2 million views), where Chinese user-generated content (overwhelmingly positive) has captured how stray dogs and cats are accepted and taken care of in Türkiye.

Other points that have struck a note in China’s travel imagination is Türkiye’s picturesque D400 highway (3.2 million), self-drive travel (2.3 million) and cave hotel accommodation (3.1 million). Like with Egypt, Rednote users are interested in FIT in Türkiye (5.3 million), but are wary of tourist scams (1.4 million).

With both Egypt and Türkiye, a lot of heavy lifting on Rednote is done for both brands by “superstar" tour guides. Guides like Li Tianwang (6.7 million views), Simba (2.7 million) and Su Cheng (1.3 million) produce tailored content for the China market around Egypt and Türkiye to promote their own businesses.

High flyers: Qatar, UAE and Syria?

Interest in aviation hubs drives a lot of interest toward Qatar and the UAE. In the case of Qatar, when adding up aviation related search terms like “Qsuite,” “business class,” and general inquiries about flights and service, Qatar Airways content pulls in over 100 million views. Users come into contact with the Qatar brand through flights and travel, but that interest naturally spills over into broader travel content tied to Qatar as a destination.

Tags like “Qatar transit guide” have over 461,000 views, showing how many travelers are looking for ways to spend time during layovers or stopovers. There’s also strong interest in local culture—“Qatari cuisine” has pulled in more than 1.4 million views, pointing to growing curiosity about what the country has to offer beyond just the airport.

And of course, big events make a big difference. The Qatar Grand Prix has drawn in over 2.3 million views, and the Qatar Asian Cup has brought in more than 5.6 million views.

This holds true for the UAE with slight differences: Emirates Airlines pulls in a massive 240 million+ views. From flight reviews and cabin walkthroughs to booking tips and service comparisons, Emirates acts as the primary gateway through which global users engage with the broader UAE travel brand.

Beyond aviation, Rednote interest in the UAE does show up for city destinations and experiences. For instance, Abu Dhabi brings in over 809,000 views, and the popular shopping destination Mall of the Emirates attracts around 170,000 views.

One thing that stands out in the data is the high concentration of views under the broad catch-all tags “Destination + tourism.” These tags require more in-depth, case-by-case analysis, and our future research will dig deeper into what these umbrella tags really include.

Nowhere is the issue of broad, catch-all tagging more apparent than in the case of Syria. The tag “Syria tourism”currently brings in a staggering 411 million views, but this massive interest contrasts sharply with more focused tags like “Syrian life” (6.3 million views), “The status quo in Syria” (1 million), “Chinese build schools in Syria” (918,000), and “China’s Exhibition of Ancient Antiquities of Syria” (1.7 million).

This, together with emotionally charged text like “Syria is gone” (23,900 views), indicates a mix of humanitarian concern, cultural reverence, and ongoing curiosity about the country’s present and past.

This suggests that Syria captures China’s imagination, not necessarily as an accessible travel destination, but as a place of deep historical importance, humanitarian interest, and social media storytelling. Further research will need to unpack what the broad “Syria Tourism” tag actually includes.

Rising: Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Oman and Saudi Arabia

Among these rising destinations, Jordan stands out for combining cultural richness, natural beauty, and trust around safety. A key driver of interest comes from its royal family, with the tag "Crown Princess of Jordan" amassing over 4.6 million views.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s top attractions continue to perform exceptionally well: "Dead Sea, Jordan" leads with 2 million+ views, followed by "Petra, Jordan" (1 million+) and "Amman, Jordan" (495,589). Notably, the Dead Sea is only tagged in relation to Jordan, not Israel, indicating how clearly Jordan “owns” this natural wonder in China's online travel discourse.

Jordan also benefits from a strong trust in safety and accessibility, seen in tags like "Jordan by Car" (151,552) and "Jordan FIT" (105,966), with structured products like the "Jordan Pass" (132,450) showing growing interest in independent travel.

Iraq, like Syria, draws high-level attention under a single umbrella: "Iraq Tourism" (47.6 million views). However, detailed interest is limited—"Iraqi cuisine" is the standout exception, with 1.1 million views.

Iran, in contrast, has fewer views under "Iran Tourism" (35.9 million), but reveals a rich, diversified content landscape. Tags such as "Iranian nomadic life" (4.2 million), "The Glory of Ancient Persia" (442,618), and "Iranian culture" (215,071) reflect China’s fascination with Persian heritage. Iran also shows greater momentum in independent travel, with "Iran FIT" drawing 192,529 views, outpacing similar tags in Jordan.

Oman is emerging as a trusted destination for nature and self-guided exploration in Rednote’s travel imagination. Tags like “Dolphin watching in Oman” (316,018), “Self-drive in Oman” (123,633), and interest in luxury hospitality—such as “Six Senses Oman”(85,684) lead among the key points of interest for China.

Saudi Arabia, though currently behind Israel in overall view counts, earns its place in the “rising” category due to two key factors: 1) Significant recent investment in China tourism promotion, not yet fully reflected in Rednote’s historical data, and 2) More favorable sentiment on Rednote compared to Israel, where conversations often carry political weight.

Saudi Arabia's current visibility is largely tied to hospitality and travel infrastructure, with strong interest in “Hotels in Saudi Arabia” (745,330 views), “Saudi Arabian Airlines” (490,156), and “The St. Regis of the Red Sea” (68,959). Destination tags like “Jeddah” (227,155) and “Red Sea” (54,668) are also emerging, helping shape the country’s new image.

Potential future growth areas include educational and cultural experiences, seen in tags like “Study in Saudi Arabia”(95,175), “Saudi Arabia Bazaar” (38,154), “Souq in Saudi Arabia” (19,724), and the heritage-focused “AlUla, Saudi Arabia” (12,671).

Work in progress: Israel, Yemen, Cyprus and Bahrain

The Middle East is not the easiest region in which to craft a tourism brand, with geopolitical uncertainty often affecting destination brands and suppressing travel interest - whether these concerns are justified or not.

In Israel, ongoing geopolitical tensions, especially over the past 18 months, have significantly impacted how the country is discussed and perceived. On Rednote, interest in Israel has largely been driven by cosmetic and wellness-related queries rather than traditional travel content.

Tags like “Israel Alma Laser” (6.34 million views), “Israel Endymed” (445,165), and “Israeli SOG skin products” (52,505) dominate. There is some engagement with “Israeli cuisine” (913,438) and “Israel Daily Life” (3.67 million), but broader tags connected to cultural sites, experiences, or leisure travel remain notably underrepresented.

Yemen, meanwhile, shows almost no definition as a travel destination on Rednote. Only three tags exist in total, and the only destination-specific tag—“Socotra Island”—has just 9,469 views. Cyprus presents a slightly different picture, yet still a sparse one. The main point of interest is in the real estate sector, with the Aristo Group, a property developer, drawing 9,474 views.

Bahrain, on the other hand, shows the beginnings of cultural and touristic appeal for China’s Rednote users. Tags like “Bahraini cuisine” (12,478) and the “National Museum of Bahrain” (6,182) appear alongside several other low-volume tags.

Lastly, there is limited visibility on Rednote when it comes to Kuwait, Lebanon, and Palestine as tourism destinations. While “Kuwait life” garners a respectable 1.42 million views, there is little content that reflects structured or experience-driven tourism narratives. In Lebanon, tags like “Beirut, Lebanon” (201,128 views) and “Lebanon by the sea”(13,224) suggest some interest in its urban and coastal charm, while “Lebanese wines” (2,543 views) points to niche cultural appeal.

However, these do not yet paint a clear picture of active or consistent tourism engagement. As with other destinations in the region, deeper analysis will be needed to unpack the content hidden within broader “Destination + tourism” categories and better understand how these places are being represented on the Rednote platform.

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That’s a wrap on this round of analysis on the Middle East and how its viewed on Rednote. Please contact us at marketing@cconsulting.com.cn or find us, Create Consulting, on LinkedIn to discuss any of the findings.

You’re also welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn, or at calbertyn@cconsulting.com.cn.

Charl Albertyn, PhD.

To see the full dataset used in this report, please download the below file:

Addendum.pdf

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