In recent years, consumers' domestic travel destination options have increased significantly, and many people have set their sights on "small cities" or county towns at or below the fourth tier. Let's start with the data:
According to data from Ctrip's platform, during the May Day holiday, travel bookings in fourth-tier cities and below increased by 140% year-on-year, outperforming the national market and significantly higher than those in first- and second-tier cities. Hotel bookings in the county market increased by 68% year-on-year, and scenic spot ticket orders increased by 151% year-on-year, both of which were higher than the national market. Tianshui, Xuzhou, Zibo, Hefei, Nanchang, Diqing, Jingdezhen, Shijiazhuang, Yantai, Huangshan and other cities have become the cities with the fastest growth rate of hotel bookings during the May Day holiday.
In addition, in 2023, Zibo City, which exploded out of the circle due to barbecue, achieved domestic tourism revenue of about 63 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 68.42%, Xuzhou made a fortune with the label of "the birthplace of Chinese barbecue", achieved domestic tourism revenue of 79.859 billion yuan, an increase of 123.0%, and Diqing, which has a gold-lettered signboard of "Shangri-La", achieved domestic tourism revenue of 29.538 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 100.14%.
What are the factors behind the "small cities" reaping the "big flow" of tourism, which is very obvious in the main travel season last year and this year?
One trip, one experience
According to the "2023 China Tourism Development Report" released by the Wuhan Branch of the China Tourism Research Institute of Central China Normal University, with the upgrading of tourism consumption, consumers' demand for high-quality and in-depth tourism experience has grown rapidly. The trend of experiential and immersive in-depth tourism is becoming more obvious, and research trips integrating immersive exploration and interactive experience are very popular.
Tourists visit Hong Village, Yixian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, a World Heritage Site, April 24, 2024. In recent years, Huangshan City has continued to implement a series of policies of "reduction and exemption" of tickets for tourist attractions, and every Wednesday (non-holiday) is set as the "Huangshan Scenic Area Free Admission Open Day", including Huangshan Scenic Area, Xidi and Hongcun and other tourist attractions. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Shi Yalei)
Tourists' concept of travel has changed, from "visiting and checking in" to "immersive" travel that focuses more on experience. Some people visit the story of a city in the form of city walks and "special forces tourism", while others live in country houses and enjoy the "slow life" of leisure and vacation.
The reasons why tourists choose tourist destinations are more diverse. Going to the island for a vacation to enjoy a comfortable leisure life, going to the famous mountains and rivers to see the long-awaited beauty, going to your favorite city to feel a different rhythm of life, or even going to eat an authentic barbecue, go to a concert, and see the Internet celebrity panda have all become reasons to go to a destination.
"Small town" charm
Tourists play in Shuanglang Ancient Town, Dali City, April 16, 2024 (photo taken on April 15). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Hu Chao
According to data from the Tongcheng Travel platform, the popularity of train tickets and air tickets arriving in third-tier cities and below (including county-level cities) on April 29 and 30 increased by more than 200% week-on-week. The "small town" with its long history, traditional architecture, and unique experiences is gradually favored by many tourists.
Compared with larger cities, the advantages of choosing "small cities" for holiday travel are very obvious, focusing on a cost-effective: the hotel price is lower, about 400 yuan can live in high-end, luxury hotels, catering, transportation, shopping and other comprehensive costs are relatively lower than those in big cities.
It's not just the price, a "small city" is popular with tourists because it's attractive enough in its own right.
On December 21, 2023, citizens and tourists watched the beautiful scenery of ice on the waterfront in Weihai City (drone photo). Recently, continuous snowfall and low temperatures have caused ice beauties to appear on many seashores in Weihai City, Shandong Province, attracting many citizens and tourists to check in and take pictures. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Zhu Chunxiao)
For example, in Weihai, which has a permanent population of less than 3 million, it received more than 56 million tourists last year, almost 20 times the population of the entire city. A Weihai Qianli mountain and sea self-driving tourist highway, ranking first in the first batch of the top ten typical cases of integrated development of transportation and tourism in China in 2023. Why is Weihai so popular? Is it just because the scenery is good, with the waves of the sea and the white snowflakes colliding with each other? Weihai has been rated as "China's happiest city" for three consecutive years, and Weihai has become a happy city that can meet the diverse needs of people of different ages. The happiness and satisfaction of the locals is probably the best tourism promotion in a city.
Wulong District Tiansheng Three Bridges. Xinhua net hair (photo by Wang Junjie)
For another example, Wulong, a "small city" in the west located in the canyon area of Wuling Mountain and Da Lou Mountain, has 654 developable cultural and natural tourism resources in the territory, and the beads are dense throughout the territory. It is a collection of sinkholes, ground cracks, grasslands, canyons, waterfalls, karst caves, forests, rivers and other natural landscapes, and is known as the "World Karst Ecological Museum". In recent years, Wulong's tourist attractions have continued to innovate, such as the Tiansheng Three Bridges "Cliff Glass Overlook Bridge", Tiankeng Zhaizi "Heart of the Earth", Baima Mountain "Flying Kiss", Fairy Mountain "Wave Highway", Fairy Mountain "Treetop Walk", Impression Wulong, Lazy Dam Culture and Art Theme Park, Guiyuan Town and a series of new discoveries or new attractions, which continue to attract tourists to check in, and the hot spots of "traveling to Wulong" continue to be online.
Crisscrossing domestic travel
A train on the Xicheng high-speed rail line passes through Yangchun Town, Nanzheng District, Hanzhong City, Shaanxi Province, March 20, 2024 (drone photo). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Shao Rui
In 2022, the mainland will build the world's largest high-speed railway network, highway network, and world-class port cluster, with aviation and navigation connections around the world, and the total length of the comprehensive transportation network will exceed 6 million kilometers. The transportation network extending in all directions provides convenience for "small sugar oranges" to travel all over the Northeast, and the schedule of holiday travel destinations has become commonplace, so that various "special military tourism" can be realized.
Last winter, Harbin let netizens across the country see the hospitality of "digging out the family" to pet tourists. The fire of "Erbin" has also driven the ice and snow tourism boom in Heilongjiang. In China's northernmost and coldest province, high-speed rail stations cover almost most of Heilongjiang's counties. The "ring line high-speed railway" bullet train from Harbin to Harbin connects 29 stations such as Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, Jixi and Qitaihe into a ring, with a total distance of 1,015 kilometers and only takes more than 6 hours to run, realizing the closed loop of high-speed rail in the province and becoming the favorite high-speed rail train of the people along the line.
Tourists dressed in Hanfu take photos by the West Lake in Hangzhou on April 18, 2024. Recently, the West Lake Scenic Area in Hangzhou has become popular for tourism, and there is an endless stream of tourists who come for sightseeing. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Han Chuanhao
Not only in the Northeast, but also in the "3-hour high-speed rail circle" with Shanghai as the starting point, people can either go boating on the West Lake, or be in Anji B&B, or wave their hands to the welcome pine on Huangshan Mountain and take a bite of delicious baked cakes. Residents of these cities can also take the high-speed train to Shanghai in 3 hours, enjoy the night view of the Bund, experience the lively old town, and spend a wonderful day at Shanghai Disney Resort.
From the national point of view, Beijing to Jinan, Datong, Guangzhou to Zhuhai, Guilin, Chengdu to Chongqing, Leshan, Wuhan to Changsha, Nanchang, Zhengzhou to Xi'an, Luoyang, Xi'an to Kaifeng, Lanzhou...... The 3-hour high-speed rail connects the food, beautiful scenery, and historical and cultural resources of various places, bringing a rich experience of "shopping and eating".
In fact, the distinctive "small city" is not only seen this year. When people are no longer willing to go to first- and second-tier cities and popular tourist cities, and no longer want to experience "people from the crowd", choosing "small cities" seems to have regained the essence of tourism - relaxing and feeling happy. (Text/Drawing by Li Tong)