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Going to the county seat is becoming a new trend for young people to travel on May Day this year.
Shortly after the Qingming holiday, Bobo (pseudonym), a post-95 generation, couldn't wait to plan a trip for May Day.
In Bobo's plan, this year's May Day "I want to take my two puppies and my friends to find a place with few people and beautiful scenery to relax." Eventually, Bobo set the destination for May Day tourism in Anji, a county seat under the jurisdiction of Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province.
However, despite starting to book hotels nearly a month in advance, Bobo still found that some room types of many popular homestays in Anji were already fully booked.
The booking data of the OTA platform can also support the explosion of county tourism during this year's May Day holiday.
According to data from the Tongcheng Travel platform, the popularity of train tickets and air tickets arriving in third-tier cities (including county-level cities) on April 29 and 30 this year increased by more than 200% week-on-week.
According to Ctrip's "2024 May Day" Travel Trend Insight Report, as of April 15, 2024, hotel bookings in county markets during the May Day holiday increased by 68% year-on-year, and scenic spot ticket orders increased by 151% year-on-year, which is higher than the national market.
Where are the young people who are planning to go on the "county tour" on May Day? What do the young people who are going to the county plan to do? How did the county town become a popular destination for young people to travel on May Day?
Which counties are popular this year's May Day?
Judging from Ctrip's booking data, there are three main types of popular tourist counties during this year's May Day:
One category, such as Shangri-La in Yunnan, Dunhuang in Gansu and Yangshuo in Guangxi, can basically be regarded as popular travel destinations that have been "on fire for a long time". According to Qiangua data, as of April 19, 2024, the number of notes related to Shangri-La in Yunnan and Dunhuang Xiaohongshu in Gansu has exceeded 20,000 in the past 30 days.
A type of county, such as Anji in Huzhou, Zhejiang, is a popular destination in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai. In recent years, with the popularity of lifestyles such as camping and outdoor hiking, Anji's popularity on social media has further increased. As of April 19, 2024, the number of notes related to Xiaohongshu "Anji" in the past 30 days has exceeded 29,000.
There is also a relatively "niche" category, such as Deqing County in Huzhou, Zhejiang, Chun'an County in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Pingtan County in Fuzhou, Fujian. Geographically, this kind of county itself is a subordinate county of a popular tourist city.
The number of relevant notes on "Pingtan" on Xiaohongshu has also exceeded 18,000 in the past 30 days, which is higher than Yangshuo's 12,900.
In addition to the above popular county travel destinations with soaring bookings, many young people who want to travel to the county on Xiaohongshu will also "check in the top 100 counties" as a new idea for May Day tourism, and in the comment area of relevant notes, they recommend niche treasure counties in a mutually helpful manner:
People from Rongcheng City (Shandong Province) said that May is probably the most comfortable season, you can ride on the sparkling seaside, you can check in on the reef to take romantic photos, and you can eat an iron pot stewed big fish paste tortillas in the green mountains.......
I recommend Chengmai County, Hainan, about an hour's drive from Haikou, there is the sea, there are wetlands, there are Qingbuliang, Hainan noodles, Fushan coffee, white lotus goose, Qiaotou sandy soil potato, lotus fog, lychee and a lot of delicious
I hope to come to Tengzhou to eat Tengzhou pancakes, spicy chicken, vegetable pancakes for 7 yuan a piece, and the girls will be full
Liuyang, Hunan, where there is a fireworks show every Saturday - the hometown of Chinese fireworks, are you sure you won't come?
.......
So, what are these more "niche" but more discussed county destinations on social media to capture the hearts of young people?
How do young people travel to the county?
In the past, an important reason for young people to travel to the county is that the scenic spots are distributed in the county, such as Wuyuan is known as the "most beautiful village", and Yangshuo is known as "Guilin's landscape is the best in the world, and Yangshuo's scenery is Guilin".
But today's county tourism is more than that, "DT Business Observer" has summarized some new county tourism methods through social media data and interviews.
"Change places and enjoy urban pop"
Judging from the discussion on social media, some young people who are heading to the county are looking for a way to play that is "closer to nature" and at the same time can meet the current popular lifestyle.
Anji, the popular county town mentioned above, is an example. In the past 30 days, in the notes related to "Anji" on Xiaohongshu, words such as music festivals, coffee, and camping have appeared frequently, and these words are very appropriate to the "urban life" in everyone's impression.
One thing that may subvert your imagination is that in Anji County, which has a permanent population of less than 600,000, there are more than 300 coffee shops, and the per capita density of cafes even exceeds that of Shanghai.
At the beginning of April this year, Anji also held the Dalu Music Festival, attracting many young people to come and watch.
Bobo (pseudonym) Anji's 3-day and 2-night travel plan on May Day, the schedule is roughly - barbecue with friends at the homestay, hike the mountain with his dog, experience tea picking in the tea garden, and go to the coffee shop to check in.
In addition to being able to experience activities with local folk customs such as "tea picking", Bobo feels that his itinerary is not very different from camping in Shanghai for a weekend, "The main difference is that Anji's natural scenery is very good, and he can rest and rest without hurrying." ”
In the county with better natural scenery, watching music festivals, drinking coffee, camping, and hiking, the county town has become a field for some young people to continue to practice the current urban popular lifestyle and expand the "20-minute park effect".
"Self-drive in-depth tour, go shopping like a local"
Different from @Bobo changing places to "live a city life", Dawang (pseudonym), who lives in Beijing, plans to drive to Yingxian County, Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province on May Day, and his plan for traveling to the county is more - by not setting too specific plans, "immerse yourself in the experience" of the county's "fireworks".
"In my itinerary, I only planned the ancient attractions I wanted to go, and I didn't make a particularly detailed plan for what to eat and play, so I didn't want to follow the strategy completely, and I wanted to find and feel a different life from Beijing according to the way the locals lived. ”
In addition to well-known scenic spots such as the wooden pagoda in Yingxian County, in the expectation of Dawang (pseudonym), "the population flow of the county is not so fast, and it should retain more local characteristics of humanities and food culture." I'm really a little indifferent to the particularly homogeneous tourist city, and I want to experience some less commercial tourism experience. ”
In terms of specific ways to play, Dawang's plan is: because the attractions are relatively scattered, they mainly rely on self-driving in-depth tours. "But if you have the opportunity, you also want to take a day to find a random bus to sit on and wander aimlessly. ”
Judging from the booking data, during this year's May Day, there are not a few people who choose to travel the county through self-driving like the king.
According to Ctrip data, during this year's May Day, Yantai, Datong, Taiyuan, Ningbo, Hulunbuir and other places around the city were scattered scenic spots, which were the "dark horse" destinations with rapid year-on-year growth in car rental orders.
"Pick a place with a good view and lie flat"
Unlike Bobo and Dawang, @Apple who lives in Shanghai plans to go to a small county near Guiyang to "lie down for a few days" during the May Day holiday:
"Kunming and Guiyang must be crowded, but Yunnan-Guizhou is not so hot on May Day, the scenery is good and the air is fresh, so I want to choose a comfortable hotel or homestay, sleep until I wake up naturally, and go out to visit and eat local food when I wake up. ”
There are quite a few people on social media who share Apple, and they call this method "lying flat tourism", which is almost the opposite of "special forces tourism" -
The itinerary plan is very rough, do not check in, and are not in a hurry, and the attractions will also be visited, but if there are too many people or the time is missed, then you can not look at it, and the most important thing is that the accommodation and meals should be "comfortable".
For Apple, county tourism is more of a break — finding a place with good scenery and few people, and allowing the body and mind to relax "elsewhere".
Behind the county tour, cultural tourism "sinks"
In fact, county tourism is not a sudden trend during the May Day holiday, as early as this year's Spring Festival and Qingming Festival, there have been many people discussing traveling to the county.
On Xiaohongshu, during the Spring Festival and Qingming holiday this year, young people who don't want to be "crowded" became popular: "reverse tourism". Judging from the recommended destinations in the popular notes related to "reverse tourism", they include county-level cities in Anhui, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanxi, Hubei and other provinces.
During this year's May Day, the popularity of county travel is related to the fact that the old popular tourist cities are still unable to escape the explosion of crowds.
According to data from Ctrip's platform, as of April 15, 2024, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi'an, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Changsha are the top 10 popular tourist destinations during the May Day holiday.
It is difficult to grab tickets, and it has become the first step to persuade young people to go to popular tourist cities. Compared with crowded people visiting scenic spots, for young people who take "relaxation" as their motto, eating well and resting well is the meaning of the holiday.
On the other hand, the reason why "county seats" can become a popular travel destination for young people is also because the current development of the county itself can provide tourists with a more comfortable and better experience.
Just as "Zibo" became a popular tourist destination last year, in addition to barbecue delicious, there are fireworks, there is also a reason that it can be directly reached by high-speed rail, and the aforementioned Pingtan, Anji, Deqing and other counties have high-speed rail stations.
According to public reports, most of the newly signed and newly opened hotels of Jin Jiang Hotels (China) in the first quarter of 2023 are concentrated in mid-market brands, and most of them are distributed in the "sinking market".
Huazhu Group's financial report shows that as of 2023, Huazhu operating hotels will account for 40% of third-tier and below cities, covering 1,257 cities, an increase of 131 cities compared with 2022.
Cities below the third tier outside the Fifth Ring Road are also a bonanza for brands to scramble.
In January this year, Wang Jingying, chairman of Starbucks China, mentioned at the first quarter of fiscal year 2024 earnings conference that "in the past few years, the profitability of our new stores in the county-level market has also been better than that of first-tier cities." Therefore, we will continue to accelerate the sinking and enter more county-level markets. ”
According to a report by the China Chain Store & Franchise Association, from 2018 to 2022, while restaurant chain brands have stopped expanding in first- and second-tier cities, their distribution in third- to fifth-tier cities has increased significantly. In 2023, the county area will become the focus of the layout of catering brands.
In other words, not only are young people yearning for a travel experience with good scenery, fireworks, high cost performance and "living elsewhere", but the county is also becoming better to reach, closer to trends, better to eat, easier to visit and easier to buy.
From this point of view, the fire of county tourism is a two-way rush.
Young people are pouring into the county, and the county is embracing young people.
Source: "DT Business Observation" WeChat public account
Author: Shi Youqi
Editor: Hu Liang
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