Picture perfect wanderlust: How a Chinese app is driving tourism in Southeast Asia

This article was originally published in Rest of World, which covers technology’s impact outside the West.

At 5 am, the air around Ijen volcano in eastern Java, Indonesia, is thick with bright yellow smoke. Undeterred, young Chinese tourists don gas masks and flock to the rim of the active volcano crater at sunrise, eager to capture the perfect photo. Steps away from a sheer drop into the turquoise volcanic lake, some whip out their phones to check Xiaohongshui, a Chinese social media app, for the best vantage point. Within hours, their snapshots may join the thousands already shared on the platform.

Aang Koen is familiar with this phenomenon. The 48-year-old Indonesian owns a travel agency in Surabaya and organises tours to Ijen. For years, his clientele was predominantly European, but since early 2023, Koen’s business has undergone a dramatic shift. Now, 60% of his clients are Chinese, most of whom found him on Xiaohongshu.

“My business is getting famous,” he told Rest of World. Ijen was little-known among Chinese travelers before the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, Koen said, but the volcano rim pictures on Xiaohongshu have made it a popular destination. Almost all of his Chinese clients asked to include Ijen in their tours.

Xiaohongshu is often referred to as...

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