Alex Bao, a travel influencer known as “Super Bao” on the Chinese social media platform Weibo was invited to share his experiences on a popular radio station, Beijing Joy FM, to recommend San Francisco’s attractions. His objective was clear—to showcase the city to his Chinese audience and help bring more Chinese tourists to San Francisco and California.
But Bao’s boosterism didn’t come for free. Visit California, a state-affiliated nonprofit with a mission of promoting tourism, invited him to San Francisco and sponsored his trip.
Now, the group is homing in on influencers from a specific country—China—whose tourists’ spending power is more important than ever as cities like San Francisco scramble to recover badly needed tourism revenue.
