In the era of Internet 3.0, all industries have undergone tremendous changes. By proactively embracing the challenges of the times with foresight and agile thinking, one can stay ahead in the industry, become a pioneer leader, and even capture high popularity and market share. When discussing the performance of China’s tourism industry in the context of the internet, people always yearn to see more positive and fresh actions. As an industry closely related to people's cultural life, tourism is no longer just about sightseeing in one place for a short time. Nowadays, people prefer to call “tourism” “traveling,” leaning more toward independent travel that emphasizes personal experience rather than group tours with large crowds. It is more like a journey that involves exploring the land on foot, immersing oneself in the local culture, and is considered a fashionable lifestyle attitude.
Known for its international mindset, daring to break conventional thinking and innovate for change, the Hangzhou Municipal Tourism Commission became a “pioneer” in tourism internet marketing. Teaming up with Mafengwo, China’s leading free independent travel service platform, they launched a series of layered and stylish marketing activities that effectively disseminated Hangzhou’s rich and diverse tourism advantages across various internet and new media platforms. Since their launch, these activities have received unanimous praise from travel enthusiasts, with nearly 560,000 participants cumulatively across both platforms. The keyword “Hangzhou” maintained consistently high search popularity on Mafengwo, seeing a 12% month-on-month increase in search volume, while popular scenic spots in Hangzhou also showed significant growth in search interest—causing quite a stir in the industry.
A Trip to Hangzhou Reveals Your Personality: Creative Interpretation Brings New Surprises
Following the “Customize Your Trip to Hangzhou” special campaign, Mafengwo continued with its innovative marketing approach by focusing on mobile platforms and designing an interactive format centered around psychological testing. Starting from the Mafengwo mobile app and expanding to multiple platforms including Weibo and WeChat, this effort facilitated effective communication from Mafengwo users to the entire online audience, creating a long-lasting and ultimately climactic marketing impression of the “Hangzhou Lifestyle” concept, which generated the strongest possible response.
With the theme “Discover Your Travel Personality, Travel to Hangzhou for Free,” the campaign crafted various lifestyles in Hangzhou into travel stories. Based on individual preferences, it identified N distinctive personality types among travelers. The test leveraged common psychology by softly integrating exclusive Hangzhou lifestyles and used a storyline to ensure coherence. The novel and fun travel personalities strongly ensured repeated sharing across platforms, raising awareness of the “Hangzhou Lifestyle” among the wider online audience and sparking a new trend where “everyone wants to go to Hangzhou.”
Packaging the “Hangzhou Lifestyle” concept as a psychological test retained both communicability and fun, while elevating Hangzhou tourism to a form of lifestyle culture, presented in a more youth-oriented manner. The bold and ambitious Mafengwo put great care into every aspect of this interactive test. From the gradual unfurling of an antique folding fan that heralds the beginning of an exclusive Hangzhou travel story, to the relatable depictions of amusing encounters based on the traveler’s profile, to the reward-sharing and encouragement mechanisms—this comprehensive content planning system was seamlessly linked, complemented by multi-dimensional and multi-channel promotion, all of which were essential factors in achieving the desired communication outcomes.
Creativity Opens New Opportunities, Achieving Far-Reaching Industry Impact
The “Free Travel in Hangzhou” campaign jointly created by the Hangzhou Municipal Tourism Commission and Mafengwo not only innovated the interactive experience and upgraded the ways of independent travel, but also unearthed deeper meanings of travel. It delivered brand value through meaningful and culturally rich content, narrowing the emotional distance between the city and the public. Successfully opening up new approaches to tourism promotion, it showcased the future direction of travel. Travel is no longer just sightseeing—in Hangzhou, it can be a multi-faceted experience through “enjoying beautiful scenery, staying in homestays, and tasting local cuisine,” much like a local, savoring the relaxed and enriching “Hangzhou Lifestyle.”
Since its launch, the “Free Travel in Hangzhou” campaign has received unanimous praise from travel enthusiasts, with nearly 560,000 participants cumulatively across both platforms. It even sparked widespread discussion about the “Hangzhou Lifestyle” within the travel community. The keyword “Hangzhou” maintained consistently high search popularity on Mafengwo, seeing a 12% month-on-month increase in search volume, while popular scenic spots in Hangzhou also showed significant growth in search interest. The far-reaching impact of this campaign goes beyond that—the booking rate of high-quality homestays in Hangzhou, which were highlighted in the special feature, also increased significantly. Follow-up interviews with Hangzhou homestay owners revealed that the special feature built a crucial bridge for direct dialogue between homestays and independent travelers. As the influence of the feature deepened, it impacted travelers’ decision-making, motivating them to choose Hangzhou as their destination. They personally experienced the “Hangzhou Lifestyle” depicted in the campaign and, after their trips, returned to the Mafengwo platform to share a wealth of heartfelt and high-quality travel notes about Hangzhou.
The campaign also garnered widespread attention within the industry. The bold and visionary innovative collaboration between the Hangzhou Municipal Tourism Commission and Mafengwo organically combined independent travel with Hangzhou’s tourism resource strengths, significantly amplifying the industry’s impact. As 2015 marked a boom year for independent travel in China, timely adjustment of tourism marketing strategies and directions by destinations to adapt to the characteristics and trends of the Internet+ era became paramount.
With its limitless freedom, Mafengwo dares to break conventions and continuously push boundaries. Its future collaboration potential with various industries is boundless. Amid the fierce competition among internet travel platforms for resources, leveraging its community platform and big data advantages, Mafengwo will create even more influential brand events in the future.