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Playbook: How to Win Chinese Investors and Travellers.

  • Writer: Basil Chua
    Basil Chua
  • 9 hours ago
  • 6 min read


China invested USD 192.2 billion abroad in 2024 (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025) and sent 167.92 million travellers out into the world (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 2026). This is the dual-track playbook for tourism boards, airlines, government agencies and universities that want both: the investor and the traveller.


Two flows. One source.


Every destination CMO knows the traveller numbers. Fewer have seen the capital numbers beside them. China invested USD 192.2 billion abroad in 2024, up 8.4%, the world's third-largest investor for a thirteenth consecutive year (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025), and held the pace in 2025 at USD 174.4 billion (EY, 2026).


Chinese overseas M&A rose nearly 40% to USD 43.6 billion (EY, 2026), and newly announced greenfield investment reached roughly USD 100 billion in 2025, much of it building supply chains across Asia (Rhodium Group, 2026). Flows into ASEAN alone jumped 36.8% (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025).


The same country supplies your visitors and your investors. Court one and ignore the other, and you are running half a campaign at full cost.


Track one: win the investor.


Chinese capital is courted through institutions and read through financial media.


The institutions first. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) operates more than 800 local and industry bodies with 18 overseas offices, and has organised 274 international delegations since the start of 2025 (Xinhua, 2025). The China International Fair for Investment and Trade in Xiamen closed its 2025 edition with 1,154 projects worth 644 billion yuan across 120-plus countries (CIFIT Organising Committee, 2025). And the capital has home addresses: Guangdong leads all provinces with USD 251.3 billion in outbound investment stock, ahead of Shanghai and Zhejiang (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025). That is where the roadshows belong.


Then the media. Chinese business leaders read Caixin, now 1.2 million paying subscribers (Caixin, 2026); National Business Daily, cumulative coverage above 168 million (NBD, 2026); Securities Times, 65 million daily coverage (Securities Times, 2026); and 36Kr, 35.9 million followers (36Kr, 2025). Relationships run on WeChat and WeCom, and, since LinkedIn's 2023 exit, no Western B2B channel exists. Position where the money already goes: business services leads the outbound stock at roughly 31%, and manufacturing leads the new flows into ASEAN (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025).


Track two: win the traveller.


The consumer campaign is its own discipline: discovery on Xiaohongshu, the top source of outbound travel information at 53% (Dragon Trail Research, April 2026); scale on Douyin, Kuaishou and Connected TV, weighted to the lower-tier cities now driving growth; and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) so your destination appears when travellers ask Doubao and its peers where to go next. We have published the full playbook separately. The point here is simpler: the traveller campaign and the investor campaign share one national story and one media buying engine.


The bridge: business travel and education.


Two audiences, one bridge. China is the world's largest business travel market, USD 372.5 billion in 2024, roughly a quarter of global spend (GBTA, 2025). The delegation that lands for a site visit books hotels, seats and restaurants; the investor who knows a destination personally defends it in the boardroom. Universities hold the same logic: 8.88 million Chinese have studied abroad since 1978, with 495,000 returning home in 2024 alone (Ministry of Education, 2025), and every student is a decade of visiting family, graduation travel and alumni loyalty. Business and education travel are the connective tissue between capital and tourism. Plan them as such.


The precedent: Thailand and Malaysia.


In a single year, Thailand was Guest of Honour at the China International Import Expo for trade and investment, and Guest Country of Honour at the China International Travel Mart for travellers (Nation Thailand, 2025; TAT, 2025). Its Board of Investment opened a fourth China office, in Chengdu, in 2026, after drawing more than 2,400 Chinese investment applications worth over 600 billion baht between 2021 and 2025 (Nation Thailand, 2026).


Malaysia works the same seam: RM28.2 billion of Chinese investment in 2024, with MIDA staffing an investment consul in Guangzhou (MIDA, 2025). And CIIE's country pavilions are built for exactly this, showcasing a nation's investment case and tourism appeal side by side (CIIE Bureau, 2025).


The playbook.


One national story, two media plans. Write the narrative once: why this destination, for capital and for holidays. Then split the buying: institutional and financial media for the boardroom, discovery platforms for the feed.


Take the institutional stage. A pavilion at CIIE or CIFIT. Delegations brokered through CCPIT and the provincial chambers. Roadshows in Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang, where the outbound capital sits.


Be present where the boardroom reads. Caixin, Yicai, CCTV Finance, and the numerous financial publishers. WeChat and Weibo official accounts for engagement.


Keep the consumer flywheel running. Discovery-first, tiered by city, answered by GEO. Data-driven audience targeting across the media ecosystem from Hisense and Xiaomi Connected TV (powered by Alibaba first-party data), to Mobile Apps, and DOOH.


Measure both tracks in outcomes. Projects and arrivals. Capital and bookings. Delegations landed and seats filled. This is the work Multiverse Partners executes for tourism boards, airlines, government agencies and universities: both tracks, one story, one contract.


The traveller fills the seat. The investor builds the runway. One country supplies both. Be unmissable to each.

Frequently asked questions.


How do you attract Chinese investors to a destination? Through institutions and financial media, not consumer feeds: a presence at CIFIT and CIIE, delegations via CCPIT and provincial chambers, roadshows in the top capital-source provinces, and sustained visibility in Caixin, Yicai and the financial dailies, with WeChat and WeCom carrying the relationships.


Which media do Chinese business leaders read? Caixin, with 1.2 million paying subscribers (Caixin, 2026), National Business Daily, Securities Times and 36Kr, alongside WeChat official accounts. There is no LinkedIn in China; it exited in 2023.


Can one campaign target both Chinese investors and travellers? One narrative, two tracks. Thailand did it in 2025: CIIE for investment, the China International Travel Mart for travellers. The tracks reinforce each other, but they should never share a media plan.


Where is Chinese outbound investment going? Mostly Asia, holding roughly 70% of the stock, with ASEAN flows up 36.8% in 2024, business services the leading sector of the stock, and manufacturing driving the new flows into Southeast Asia (MOFCOM, NBS and SAFE, 2025).


Which are Multiverse Partners' accredited publishers in China? China Media Group (CCTV), Shanghai Media Group, Hisense and Xiaomi ConnectedTV. Through Yoyi Tech, we have full programmatic access to thousands of mainland Chinese publishers on mobile and social media apps (such as Wechat, Xiaohongshu a.k.a. Rednote, Weibo etc), OTT Apps (such as iQiyi, Youku, Mango etc) and DOOH.


Contact Multiverse Partners


Talk to us about your global media buying strategy:



Multiverse Partners Network Pte Ltd. Registered office: 8 Wilkie Road 03-01, Wilkie Edge, Singapore 228095.




Sources.

  1. MOFCOM, National Bureau of Statistics and SAFE — 2024 Statistical Bulletin of China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment (September 2025): https://english.www.gov.cn/archive/statistics/202509/08/content_WS68bed72bc6d0868f4e8f567e.html

  2. EY Greater China — Overview of China outbound investment of 2025 (February 2026).

  3. Rhodium Group — China Cross-Border Monitor (February 2026).

  4. China's Ministry of Culture and Tourism — full-year 2025 tourism market data (published 2026).

  5. Xinhua — CCPIT delegations and international engagement (August 2025): https://english.news.cn/20250827/2269c06c40b54294937ad22f373c9932/c.html

  6. CIFIT Organising Committee, via Xinhua and Xiamen municipal sources — 25th China International Fair for Investment and Trade results (September 2025).

  7. Caixin Global — digital subscription data (June 2026): https://www.caixinglobal.com/2026-06-11/caixin-ranks-ninth-globally-in-2026-digital-subscription-report-102453090.html

  8. National Business Daily — Social Responsibility Report (May 2026); coverage figure is self-disclosed: https://www.mrjjxw.com/articles/2026-05-29/4412590.html

  9. Securities Times — corporate profile, self-disclosed daily coverage: https://www.stcn.com/public/about-us.html

  10. 36Kr Holdings — FY2024 financial results (March 2025): https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2025/03/11/3040317/0/en/36Kr-Holdings-Inc-Reports-Unaudited-Financial-Results-for-the-Second-Half-and-Fiscal-Year-2024.html

  11. CNN — LinkedIn's exit from China (2023): https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/09/tech/linkedin-layoffs-exit-china-app-intl-hnk

  12. Dragon Trail Research — Chinese Traveler Sentiment Report, April 2026: https://www.dragontrail.com/resources/blog/china-traveler-sentiment-report-april-2026

  13. GBTA — Global Business Travel Index, 2024 spending data (2025): https://www.gbta.org

  14. Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, via Xinhua and gov.cn — Chinese students abroad and returnees (December 2025).

  15. Nation Thailand — Thailand at CIIE 2025 and BOI China expansion (2025–2026): https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/business/trade/40058043

  16. TAT Newsroom — Thailand as Guest Country of Honour at CITM 2025: https://www.tatnews.org/2025/12/thailand-named-guest-country-of-honour-at-citm-2025/

  17. MIDA, via China Daily — Chinese investment in Malaysia, 2024 (April 2025).

  18. CIIE Bureau — Country Pavilion for Trade & Investment: https://www.ciie.org/zbh/Introduction3/20171226/84.html


 
 
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