Platformized Tourism Circuits and Urban Space: Xiaohongshu,Wanghong Places,and Dongshankou’s Transformation

Abstract

This study examines how social media platforms reshape urban tourism through the case of Dongshankou, Guangzhou, a prototypical Wanghong place (social media-famous sites). Drawing on digital geography, visual consumerism, and platformized-tourism theory, it identifies a triadic “algorithm–user–capital” circuit that transforms physical spaces into symbolic, aestheticized landscapes. Xiaohongshu’s algorithmic recommendations, user-generated narratives, and commercial integration collectively mediate digital visibility, guide embodied tourist behaviors, and drive material transformations, including homogenized retail formats, gentrification, and merchant displacement. Tourists become “digital prosumers,” enacting standardized poses, filter esthetics, and participatory archives that reinforce platform-driven spatial hierarchies. The recursive loop of digital mediation, affective engagement, and commercial conversion illustrates how Chinese-style wanghong ecosystems integrate state governance, e-commerce, and urban renewal. Findings extend digital capitalism theory beyond Western contexts, providing insights for the sustainable management of platformized tourism that balances social, cultural, and economic dynamics.

Keywords

Wanghong places social media tourism platformized tourism circuits symbolic urban space urban transformation

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ash

Kitchin

Leszczynski

(2018). Digital turn, digital geographies? Progress in Human Geography, 42(1), 25–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132516664800

Ateljevic

(2000). Circuits of tourism: Stepping beyond the ‘production/consumption’ dichotomy. Tourism Geographies, 2(4), 369–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/146166800750035495

Ateljevic

Doorne

(2003). Culture, economy and tourism commodities: Social relations of production and consumption. Tourist Studies, 3(2), 123–141. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468797603041629

Ateljevic

Doorne

(2004). Cultural circuits of tourism: Commodities, place, and re-consumption. In Lew

A. A.

Hall

C. M.

Williams

A. M.

(Eds.), A companion to tourism (pp. 291–302). Blackwell Publishing.

Bissell

(2020). Affective platform urbanism: Changing habits of digital on-demand consumption. Geoforum, 115, 102–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.06.026

Boy

J. D.

Uitermark

(2017). Reassembling the city through Instagram. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 42(4), 612–624. https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12185

Braun

Clarke

(2019). Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis. Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health, 11(4), 589–597. https://doi.org/10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806

Britton

(1991). Tourism, capital, and place: Towards a critical geography of tourism. Environment and Planning D Society and Space, 9(4), 451–478. https://doi.org/10.1068/d090451

Bronsvoort

Uitermark

J. L.

(2022). Seeing the street through Instagram. Digital platforms and the amplification of gentrification. Urban Studies, 59(14), 2857–2874. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980211046539

10.

Bryman

(2016). Social research methods. Oxford University Press.

11.

Bucher

(2017). The algorithmic imaginary: Exploring the ordinary affects of Facebook algorithms. Information, Communication and Society, 20(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1154086

12.

Cao

(2024). From online to onsite: Wanghong economy as the new engine driving China's urban development. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 56(4), 1061–1076. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x231224142

13.

Cao

(2025). Influencers and social media: Gentrification aesthetics and prosumption through China’s Wanghong economy. Urban Geography, 46, 983–1002. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2024.2396758

14.

Carah

Shaul

(2016). Brands and Instagram: Point, tap, swipe, glance. Mobile Media & Communication, 4(1), 69–84. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050157915598180

15.

Chang

Spierings

(2023). Places “for the gram”: Millennials, specialty coffee bars and the gentrification of commercial streets in Seoul. Geoforum, 139, 103677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103677

16.

Chi

Cheng

Zhou

Zheng

Cao

Han

(2024). Investigation on driving mechanism of heritage tourism consumption: A multi-method analytical approach. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 41(8), 1141–1160. https://doi.org/10.1080/10548408.2024.2379317

17.

Cohen

S. A.

Prayag

Moital

(2014). Consumer behaviour in tourism: Concepts, influences and opportunities. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872–909. https://doi.org/10.1080/13683500.2013.850064

18.

Conti

Lexhagen

(2020). Instagramming nature-based tourism experiences: A netnographic study of online photography and value creation. Tourism Management Perspectives, 34, 100650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmp.2020.100650

19.

Degen

Rose

(2024). Conceptualising aesthetic power in the digitally-mediated city. Urban Studies, 61(11), 2176–2192. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420980241232501

20.

Dinhopl

Gretzel

(2016). Selfie-taking as touristic looking. Annals of Tourism Research, 57, 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2015.12.015

21.

Edensor

(2000). Staging tourism: Tourists as performers. Annals of Tourism Research, 27(2), 322–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0160-7383(99)00082-1

22.

Edensor

(2007). Mundane mobilities, performances and spaces of tourism. Social & Cultural Geography, 8(2), 199–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360701360089

23.

Edensor

(2008). Tourists at the Taj: Performance and meaning at a symbolic site. Routledge.

24.

Fields

(2022). Automated landlord: Digital technologies and post-crisis financial accumulation. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 54(1), 160–181. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518x19846514

25.

Fraser

(2019). Curating digital geographies in an era of data colonialism. Geoforum, 104, 193–200. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.04.027

26.

Gambetti

Han

(2022). Camera eats first: Exploring food aesthetics portrayed on social media using deep learning. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 34(9), 3300–3331. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm-09-2021-1206

27.

Glaser

Strauss

(2017). Discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Routledge.

28.

Govind

Leszczynski

Poorthuis

(2024). Platform urbanism and “Splintering Amenitization”: An analysis of Canadian cities. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 114, 1058–1078. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2024.2322474

29.

Gretzel

(2018). Influencer marketing in travel and tourism. In Sigala

Gretzel

(Eds.), Advances in social media for travel, tourism and hospitality: new perspectives, practice and cases (pp. 147–156). Routledge.

30.

Gupta

Ray

(2022). Probing ‘instaworthiness’: Siting the selfie. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 28(3), 681–698. https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565211048977

31.

Han

(2021). Historicising Wanghong economy: connecting platforms through Wanghong and Wanghong incubators. Celebrity Studies, 12(2), 317–325. https://doi.org/10.1080/19392397.2020.1737196

32.

Huang

Lin

M. S.

Chen

(2024). Tourism experiences co-created on social media. Tourism Management, 105, 104940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2024.104940

33.

Huszka

(2024). Searching for discoveries with Instagram: Touristification ‘from below’ in the German Ruhr. Tourism Geographies, 26, 599–617. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2024.2376123

34.

Illouz

(2007). Cold intimacies: The making of emotional capitalism. Polity Press.

35.

Jackson

(2004). Local consumption cultures in a globalizing world. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 29(2), 165–178. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0020-2754.2004.00123.x

36.

Larsen

Urry

Axhausen

K. W.

(2007). Networks and tourism: Mobile social life. Annals of Tourism Research, 34(1), 244–262. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2006.08.002

37.

Leszczynski

(2019). Platform affects of geolocation. Geoforum, 107, 207–215. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.05.011

38.

Lindell

Jansson

Fast

(2022). I'm here! Conspicuous geomedia practices and the reproduction of social positions on social media. Information Communication & Society, 25(14), 2063–2082. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2021.1925322

39.

Liu

(2022). Imag(in)ing place: Reframing photography practices and affective social media platforms. Geoforum, 129, 172–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.01.015

40.

Lee

F. L.

(2024). Social media and the negotiation of travel photo authenticity in the making of Wanghongjingdian in China. Tourist Studies, 24, 221–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/14687976241274807

41.

Månsson

(2011). Mediatized tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 38(4), 1634–1652. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2011.02.008

42.

Munar

A. M.

Jacobsen

J. K. S.

(2014). Motivations for sharing tourism experiences through social media. Tourism Management, 43, 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.01.012

43.

Neves

C. S. B.

Silveira

M. A. T. D

. (2024). The use of Instagram as a gaytrification tool for a queer precinct. Tourism Geographies, 26(3), 540–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2290018

44.

(2022). Insta-gaze: Aesthetic representation and contested transformation of Woljeong, South Korea. Tourism Geographies, 24(6-7), 1040–1060. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2021.1974931

45.

Parris-Piper

Dressler

Satizábal

Fletcher

(2023). A virtual paradise? Platform algorithms, coastal change, and the production of nature in the Philippines. Geoforum, 138, 103669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2022.103669

46.

Ritchie

Lewis

Nicholls

C. M.

Ormston

(2013). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers. Sage.

47.

Ritzer

(2014). Prosumption: Evolution, revolution, or eternal return of the same? Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540513509641

48.

Ritzer

Miles

(2019). The changing nature of consumption and the intensification of McDonaldization in the digital age. Journal of Consumer Culture, 19(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540518818628

49.

Rose

(2016). Rethinking the geographies of cultural “objects” through digital technologies: Interface, network and friction. Progress in Human Geography, 40(3), 334–351. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132515580493

50.

Sadowski

(2020). Cyberspace and cityscapes: On the emergence of platform urbanism. Urban Geography, 41(3), 448–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2020.1721055

51.

Schwartz

Halegoua

G. R.

(2015). The spatial self: Location-based identity performance on social media. New Media & Society, 17(10), 1643–1660. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814531364

52.

Sedgley

Pritchard

Morgan

Hanna

(2017). Tourism and autism: Journeys of mixed emotions. Annals of Tourism Research, 66, 14–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2017.05.009

53.

Selby

(2004). Consuming the city: Conceptualizing and researching urban tourist knowledge. Tourism Geographies, 6(2), 186–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461668042000208426

54.

Shapiro

(2023). Platform urbanism in a pandemic: Dark stores, ghost kitchens, and the logistical-urban frontier. Journal of Consumer Culture, 23(1), 168–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/14695405211069983

55.

Smith

S. P.

(2018). Instagram abroad: Performance, consumption and colonial narrative in tourism. Postcolonial Studies, 21(2), 172–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2018.1461173

56.

Stone

Sharpley

(2008). Consuming dark tourism: A thanatological perspective. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(2), 574–595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2008.02.003

57.

(2010). The imagination of place and tourism consumption: A case study of Lijiang Ancient Town, China. Tourism Geographies, 12(3), 412–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2010.494688

58.

Thulin

Vilhelmson

Schwanen

(2020). Absent friends? Smartphones, mediated presence, and the recoupling of online social contact in everyday life. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110(1), 166–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/24694452.2019.1629868

59.

Urry

(1990). The tourist gaze: Leisure and travel in Contemporary Societies. Sage.

60.

Walters

(2016). Using thematic analysis in tourism research. Tourism Analysis, 21(1), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.3727/108354216x14537459509017

61.

Winchenbach

Hanna

Miller

(2022). Constructing identity in marine tourism diversification. Annals of Tourism Research, 95, 103441. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103441

62.

Zhou

Wang

(2023). Travel pictures authenticity in social media space. Annals of Tourism Research, 101, 103581. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103581

63.

Zou

(2025). Transcoding a wanghong city: Mediatized culturalization of urban places in China. Media Culture & Society, 47, 22–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241271009

64.

Zukin

Lindeman

Hurson

(2017). The omnivore’s neighborhood? Online restaurant reviews, race, and gentrification. Journal of Consumer Culture, 17(3), 459–479. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540515611203