During this year's May Day holiday, the tourism market showed new trends such as county-level tourism fever. With the improvement of infrastructure and tourism reception capacity in various places, more and more tourist destinations in lower-tier markets are welcomed. Data from a travel platform shows that during the May Day holiday, the growth rate of hotel booking orders and scenic spot ticket orders in the county market is higher than that of the national market. Why do more and more tourists choose county tourism, and how can the popularity of county tourism be sustained?
County tourism has become a trend during the May Day holiday
"On May Day, I wanted to find a city with good scenery and few people to walk, and after brushing up on the blue tears of Pingtan in Fujian Province to watch the travel guide, I decided to go to the island for a vacation with my friends. The holiday is approaching, Ms. Gong Yu, who works in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, booked a homestay to Pingtan for tourism and residence, "We plan to live in Junshan Town, and go to Beigang to check in the stone house and go to the Xianrenjing to check in the blue tears are relatively close." ”
From April to June every year, marine creatures such as algae and sea fireflies will gather on the coast of Pingtan Island, emitting blue fluorescence at night, forming a unique "blue tears" landscape, which also drives tourists from all over the country to go to Pingtan at the turn of spring and summer to "chase tears" and encounter the romantic scene of the blue sea.
According to data from Meituan, the search volume of keywords related to "blue tears" has increased by 123.4% in the past month compared with the same period last year. Judging from the platform's cultural tourism consumption booking data, during the May Day holiday this year, the scale of tourists in Pingtan County will rank first among all districts and counties in Fuzhou City, with a year-on-year growth rate of 137%, of which the number of local accommodation (including hotels and homestays) bookings increased by 176% year-on-year. Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guangdong, and Jiangsu are the top 5 provinces where tourists come to Pingtan County during the May Day holiday.
Chongzuo, a small border city in Guangxi, has also become a popular check-in place for young people during this year's May Day holiday. Liu Na, a "post-95" who is looking for a niche tourist city with few people and beautiful scenery, has set her sights on Chongzuo Daxin County during this May Day holiday, "I want to taste coffee in front of Detian Waterfall, stroll on the ridge in Mingshi Pastoral Garden, and go boating in Qingbo ...... Lana Yu Bay"
The ensuing arrival of tourists from all over the country has driven Chongzuo's consumption to heat up, and also brought new orders to local businesses such as accommodation and catering in the surrounding areas. Meituan data shows that during the May Day holiday, the number of travel bookings for tickets and hotels in Chongzuo, Guangxi increased by nearly half of the year.
Searching for "Guangxi Chongzuo Daxin County" on Dianping, hundreds of strategies appeared, many tourists posted their own check-in photos, and many bloggers directly located local businesses, spontaneously "Amway" the beauty and food of Daxin County to netizens.
At the foot of the Detian Waterfall across China and Vietnam, take a bamboo raft raft to feel the shock of the waterfall, in the Mingshi Pastoral where the green mountains and green waters are hidden, ride and stroll along the ridges to see the beautiful scenery of the mountains, and the Dragon Palace Wonderland adjacent to the Detian Waterfall is like being in a fairyland, admiring the various karst caves. Meituan data shows that since April, the search volume of attractions such as Detian Waterfall and Mingshi Pastoral has increased several times compared with last year.
Upstream News noted that "county tourism" is not a new concept. According to the relevant articles of the Institute of Urban Sciences of Nanjing University, county-level tourism refers to the county-level administrative division as the geographical space, relying on the advantages of county-level tourism resources, based on resource development, guided by market demand, supported by industry, and attracted by characteristic tourism and leisure life experience, "In 1993, the State Council's "Opinions on Actively Developing Domestic Tourism" was issued, and the concept of county-level tourism began to appear; In 2007, the National Tourism Administration selected the first batch of strong tourism counties in the country, which further promoted the development ......of county-level tourism.
In 2022, county-level tourism will show some potential. According to the National County Tourism Research Report 2022, in 2022, the top 100 counties in the country in terms of comprehensive tourism strength achieved an average total tourism income of 14.53 billion yuan, and the average number of tourists received was 13.2627 million.
According to poster news data, the "Top 100 Counties in Comprehensive Tourism Strength of the National County in 2023" are distributed in 18 provinces. The specific distribution is: 32 seats in Zhejiang, 14 seats in Sichuan, 10 seats in Guizhou, 8 seats in Jiangsu, 7 seats in Jiangxi, 4 seats in Hunan and Shandong, 3 seats in Anhui, Fujian and Yunnan, 2 seats each in Hebei, Henan, Hubei and Chongqing, and 1 seat in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jilin and Shanxi.
For a long time, first- and second-tier cities have been popular tourist destinations, and it is common for tourists to be overcrowded during holidays, especially during the May Day holiday last year. In this context, this year's May Day, the public's demand to avoid conformity and yearn for the minority is even stronger. In addition, the improvement of transportation infrastructure such as high-speed rail and the improvement of cultural and tourism facilities such as scenic hotels have made the growth of tourism orders in small and medium-sized cities higher than that of first-tier and new first-tier cities, as well as traditional popular tourist cities. Such as Tianshui, Pingxiang, Shangrao, Huizhou, Lishui, Tongling, Jinhua, Dongying, etc., tourism orders increased by more than 4% year-on-year.
It is worth noting that the tourism market in fourth-tier cities and below, especially at the county level (county and county-level cities), has grown significantly, bringing new increments to the tourism market.
According to Ctrip data, hotel bookings in the county market during this year's May Day holiday increased by 68% year-on-year, and scenic spot ticket orders increased by 151% year-on-year, which was higher than the national market. On the first day of the holiday, hotel and ticket orders in the county area increased by 64% and more than 200% year-on-year, respectively. Popular county destinations include Anji, Jinghong, Dujiangyan, Tonglu, Pingtan, Yangshuo, Xichang, Yiwu, Chun'an, and Wuyuan. Ctrip Research Institute believes that the prosperity of the county-level tourism market means that the scope of travel is expanding, and the tourist destinations are more diversified, which makes the Chinese tourism market more deeply rooted.
Choose lesser-known destinations to avoid crowds
Many of the county-level tourist destinations were once "unpopular", why are more and more people making new choices?
Before the May Day holiday, a survey conducted by the Social Survey Center of China Youth Daily with the participation of 1,001 respondents showed that 58.8% of respondents preferred to choose unpopular tourist destinations during the holiday, which was higher than the selection rate of popular tourist destinations (35.8%). Avoiding peak traffic and providing a better experience were the main reasons respondents chose lesser-known destinations.
Wang Changhao, a post-90s generation who works in Nanjing, set the May Day holiday destination in Jixi County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province, and planned to drive there with his family during the holiday. "I have always been yearning for the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River, and I have been to Huangshan before, but I have caught up with the tourist season and there are more tourists. This time I chose Jixi, on the one hand, the popularity is not so high, and the flow of people will be relatively less, on the other hand, the local scenery is very beautiful, the environment is also good, and it is suitable for in-depth play. ”
A woman surnamed Chen said that the reason why she chose to go to Jianshui, Mengzi and Maitreya in Yunnan is that they are relatively unpopular, and tourists will not have as many popular destinations as Lijiang and Dali, and on the other hand, they want to experience more unique natural and cultural scenery.
Wang Peng, an associate researcher at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said that there are three reasons for the increasing popularity of county tourism: First, counties often have unique natural scenery, such as landscapes and pastorals, ancient towns and villages, etc., and these original ecological beauty has a great attraction for tourists, especially for those who are tired of the hustle and bustle of the city. Second, compared with large cities, the cost of tickets, accommodation, and meals for county tourism is usually lower, but the tourism experience provided is not discounted, which makes county tourism cost-effective. Third, the popularity of social media has made it easier for the public to know the tourist attractions and characteristics of the county, and through the sharing and recommendation of netizens, these county attractions have quickly become popular. "Tourists are now more looking for personalized, differentiated, and high-quality travel experiences, hoping to find unique tourist attractions and activities, and county tourism just meets this demand. Wang Peng said.
Will unpopular and niche tourist destinations represented by county-level tourism become "hot" in the future? According to the survey, 77.3% of the respondents believe that they will.
Interviewee Song Yuchen believes that in the Internet era, more and more unknown small cities and unpopular scenic spots have been excavated by everyone and become "treasure" tourist destinations. "Like Zibo, Shandong Province, which caught fire last year, and Tianshui, Gansu Province this year, they are all unpopular cities that did not pay much attention before, but now they are welcomed by many people. Song Yuchen feels that in the future, more and more unpopular small cities will be noticed by everyone and become new "hot".
Liu Nian feels that now everyone's attention to the quality and experience of play has increased, but whether it is a popular city or an unpopular city, if you want to be "hot", on the one hand, you must have characteristics, and on the other hand, you must have services. "If a city wants to 'get out of the circle', it must have a unique place that attracts people's attention, and if it wants to continue its popularity, it depends on how the play experience is and whether the relevant supporting services are passed. ”
The tourism market is showing new trends such as county-level tourism fever, so can those small county towns be able to catch up with this "earth-pouring wealth"? In fact, county-level tourism is a great test of service and reception capacity. For counties, it is necessary to maintain their uniqueness while avoiding excessive commercialization and homogenization, and in addition, it is necessary to integrate and plan local resources as a whole to improve service levels. Judging from past examples, county tourism is easy to become popular if it is done well in terms of service and reception, and it is easy to "recruit black" if it is not done well. This needs to be taken seriously by all parties.
The upstream news is synthesized from Xinhua Daily Telegraph, Chinanews.com, Beijing News, China Youth Daily, Qilu One Point, The Paper, Poster News, Securities Times, Beijing Business Daily, etc