ByteDance’s Douyin Releases 2020 White Paper on Travel Vloggers

ByteDance backed Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, recently released a white paper on the travel vlogger industry in 2020 along with People’s Cultural Tourism and Trend Insight. Among all the travel-related content posted on Douyin last year, natural scenery videos accounted for 58%, while cultural landscape related content accounted for 42%.

Another interesting finding in this white paper showed that Douyin users were more interested in watching videos about the natural landscape rather than urban scenery in 2020 as the views for natural landscape related contents outperformed the urban scenery.  

Livestreaming became the essential tool for users to “tour around the globe” amid the pandemic. According to the white paper, the number of travel vloggers in November 2020 increased sixfold since January 2020, in which their livestreaming room’s followers also increased by 528%. Many travel vloggers partnered with Chinese scenic spots to livestream on Douyin to prevent overcrowding. 

To boost the travel economy in the post-pandemic era, Douyin released its “Tour Around China Digitally 云游中国” program in June 2020 and encouraged users to submit travel vlogs to revive the tourism industry. 

As a result, videos posted with the Tour Around China Digitally 云游中国” program hashtag had more than 800 million views, in which the videos have covered 96% of China’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) scenic spots. Douyin successfully made more young people interested in historical sites in China. According to the local media, Douyin is the largest platform in promoting national ICH.

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“Livestreaming is authentic, interactive, and timely, and can bring new life to ICH spots and stimulate interest in the younger generation to learn about traditional culture,” said Douyin’s spokesperson. “Douyin’s digital travel program opened up new opportunities for scenic spots in China. Tools like live broadcasting and short video reposting has revolutionized the tourism industry in the post-pandemic age.”