Oru Fogar’s regions on the Chinese Instagram

The organization has launched an official profile on Xiaohongshu. The aim is to position its member territories in the world’s most dynamic outbound travel market. It has started with the promotion of the Ecuadorian province of Manabí. Oru Fogar has taken a strategic step in its territorial promotion and internationalization policy by officially landing on Xiaohongshu (known internationally as Little Red Book or RED), China’s most influential social network for lifestyle and travel recommendations.

Through this initiative, regional governments have a direct channel to Asian travelers, connecting their tourism, cultural and landscape offering with millions of users who are actively seeking authentic experiences abroad.

What is Xiaohongshu? We could answer that it is the search engine of Chinese tourism. Often described as the “Chinese Instagram” or a combination of Instagram and Pinterest, Xiaohongshu has an active user base of more than 300 million people, predominantly young urban members of Generation Z and millennials with medium-to-high purchasing power.

Beyond being a platform for sharing images and short videos, Xiaohongshu has established itself in the Asian digital ecosystem as the main driver of travel decisions. In China, the vast majority of choices of international itineraries, accommodation, gastronomic routes and cultural activities are not made on traditional search engines, but through the authentic recommendations (notes) published on this network.

And Manabí, with its status as World Region of Gastronomy 2026, has been the spearhead of this launch. For the debut of this promotional space, Oru Fogar has chosen the Ecuadorian province of Manabí as its first major protagonist, because this province holds the prestigious distinction of World Region of Gastronomy 2026, awarded by the International Institute of Gastronomy, Culture, Arts and Tourism (IGCAT).

The first contents released in Mandarin Chinese highlight the cultural and millennia-old richness of the territory of Manabí, its Pacific landscapes and its internationally recognized culinary traditions, inviting the Chinese public to discover a sustainable, authentic and distinctive tourism offering.

After Manabí, this is a channel open to all regional governments. The General Secretariat of Oru Fogar stresses that this Xiaohongshu account is not reserved for a single project, but rather constitutes a platform open to all members of the network. The aim is for the regions of Europe, theAmericas, Africa and Asia associated with the organization to be able to showcase their unique attractions, historical heritage, traditional festivities and nature routes.

This operation has to do with the immense potential of Chinese outbound tourism. The entry into the social network responds to an unavoidable market reality: China is once again positioning itself as one of the largest source markets of international tourists and with the highest average spending per stay.

Today’s Chinese travelers are progressively moving away from the traditional package tour in favor of independent travel, personalized experiences and destinations with a strong cultural and environmental identity. A direct presence on Xiaohongshu allows the regions belonging to Oru Fogar to differentiate themselves from the large mass-tourism circuits and to capture the attention of a segment of curious, high-added-value travelers who are aware of territorial development.