- Her name is synonymous with taking Australians to China.
- Wendy Wu has now grown her business into a global tour company.
- Here’s her take on where Australians should be going now.
Wendy Wu has spent decades persuading Australians to look at China differently. Long before China became a mainstream touring destination, Wu was selling it here as a place of wonder, culture, landscapes and deep immersion.
In many ways, she helped create the market. Now, after years of growing her business internationally from the UK, she is back in Australia with a fresh message: China is back, and for river cruisers, it may be one of the most exciting destinations in Asia once again.
But this is not the China of old brochures. Wu’s new pitch is not just about ticking off Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. It is about pairing the country’s great river journeys with rural landscapes, futuristic cities and places most Australians still know little about.
And for river cruisers, that makes China newly compelling.
“River cruise is a very significant part of travel tourism in China,” Wu says. “We don’t want our customer just go there to see things. We really want them to go there and almost live there, immersed into the culture, tradition and history.”
The Wu philosophy
That philosophy has always been at the core of the Wendy Wu brand. It is also why her return to selling China is important. Australian travellers are increasingly looking for more than scenery. They want depth, story and, yes, luxury. They want to get off the beaten track — but not so far that the journey becomes hard work.
China today, Wu says, delivers all of that.
At the heart of that experience is still the Yangtze River, the country’s best-known river cruise and for many Australians the most natural introduction to inland China. Wu says it remains a crucial part of her itineraries, not just because of the famous scenery through the Three Gorges, but because it offers something valuable in a busy tour: breathing space.
“The Yangtze River cruise provide a nice downtime,” she says. “It’s very relaxed downtime in the middle.”
That is exactly why it works for river cruisers. China can be exhilarating, but it can also be intense. A multi-night Yangtze sailing breaks up the pace, offering comfort, views and time to absorb a country that can otherwise feel overwhelming in the best possible way.
Wu also highlights the Li River cruise, the classic journey through Guangxi’s jagged limestone peaks between Guilin and Yangshuo. It is not a multi-night voyage, but it remains one of the most beautiful river experiences in Asia and one that speaks directly to Australian river cruise tastes: dramatic scenery, slower travel and access to the countryside.
“For most of our customers, we love Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai,” she says. “But what we love even more is Yangshuo, because Yangshuo is the rural China. The countryside, which is very, very stunning.”
That captures exactly what many repeat cruisers are looking for now. They have done the big capitals. They have sailed Europe’s blockbuster rivers. Increasingly, they want authenticity, texture and that sense of slipping into the real life of a place.
Wu believes China still has that magic in abundance. She says her company played a major role in putting Yangshuo on the tourist map and insists the appeal remains as strong as ever. But the biggest shift is that China is no longer being sold only as ancient and traditional.
Wu is now also embracing a very different story — one of modernity, technology and cities that feel almost sci-fi. That new China is central to her comeback pitch.
Wendy Wu’s new China
One of the destinations she is most enthusiastic about is Zhangjiajie, the spectacular mountain region many travellers now associate with the backdrop to Avatar. Wu says she was taking Western groups there years before it hit the mainstream.
“At that time, we had to travel for six hours to get to that hidden land,” she says. “Nowadays, it only takes half hour by the bullet train. That’s how much China changed.”
China has not become less interesting. It has become easier.
For Australian travellers, that matters enormously. It means places that once felt too remote or too difficult can now be woven into broader itineraries that still include comfort and a river cruise component. The sense of discovery remains, but the logistics have improved dramatically.
Wu is equally excited by Chongqing, the giant city at the start or finish of many Yangtze cruises. Once seen mainly as a transit point, she now presents it as one of the most fascinating urban experiences in China.
She calls it a “cyber city” — a place of stacked highways, apartment towers, rail lines through buildings and a skyline that looks more like a futuristic movie set than a conventional Chinese city. It also happens to be a hot-spring capital.
For some travellers, that may sound like a long way from the classic image of China that first built Wu’s business. But she argues that showing both sides of the country is exactly what makes a modern China itinerary work.
“We want to show you the authentic and the rural China, the countryside,” she says. “We also want to show you the real China, which is futuristic tech. It’s also the real China.”
That is smart positioning. China is not just a heritage destination anymore. It is a place of extraordinary contrasts. For river cruisers used to combining comfort with cultural curiosity, that can be a powerful drawcard.
Wu says Australian demand is responding. Her business is seeing strong growth here, with bookings up sharply, and she says the age profile is changing too. There are more travellers in their 30s and 40s, and more multi-generational families travelling together.
It reflects a wider shift in cruising and touring. The market is broadening. River cruising is no longer seen only as a retirement holiday. More travellers are coming to it as part of a bigger appetite for immersive travel.
Wu’s new itineraries are clearly designed for that audience. Her freshly launched China Uncovered package combines the big-hitting classics — the Great Wall, Terracotta Warriors, pandas, Shanghai and the Yangtze — with newer stars such as Zhangjiajie and Chongqing.
It is, in effect, Wendy Wu’s new China in one trip.
Zhangjiajie part of Wendy Wu’s China tour
After years of broadening her business into Japan, South America, Egypt, Antarctica and beyond, Wendy Wu is once again putting China front and centre for Australian travellers. But she is not simply reviving an old formula. She is reframing the destination for a market that wants more: more immersion, more contrast, more comfort and more sense of discovery.
For river cruisers, that is especially interesting.
Because China’s rivers still do what great river journeys always do. They slow the pace. They open up landscapes. They connect big stories with intimate moments. And in a destination as vast and layered as China, they may still be the best way in.
As Wu puts it, travellers are looking for “hidden diamonds”.
Her bet is that China still has plenty of them — and that Australian river cruisers are ready to start looking again.
For more, go here.
