Unlock the password of the small town out of the circle and catch the splashing traffic
Author/ IT Times reporter Shen Yibin
Editor/ Sun Yan
Walking on the Huandao Road in Xiamen, looking up at the sunset passing through the Twin Towers, dyeing the sky red, looking down at the crowds, every time you lift your feet, you seem to have to find a suitable landing point to take a step; In Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong, the storm could not stop the enthusiasm of Mayday's 20,000 fans; In the "old" tourist metropolises such as the Bund in Shanghai, Nanluoguxiang in Beijing, and Chunxi Road in Chengdu, the scene of "people following the crowd" was staged again.
"Absolutely not to say, there are a lot of people, I'm so annoying, I knew I wouldn't come" The tourism "declaration" became popular on the Internet before May Day, but when the meal queue, the toilet was full, and a beach could not find a foothold, the "declaration" became an empty word. Facts have proved that the flow of people determines the quality of tourism.
Going against the grain and experiencing the simple customs of a niche county has become a travel choice for more and more tourists. On May Day this year, the trend of tourism sinking is more obvious. Ctrip data shows that in terms of year-on-year growth rate of travel orders, first- and second-tier cities are smaller than third- and fourth-tier cities, and third- and fourth-tier cities are smaller than county markets. Wang Yalei, an industry analyst at Ctrip Research Institute, said that the sinking market has a low base and more room for growth, and tourists' pursuit of more relaxation and cost-effectiveness has also accelerated the trend of tourism sinking.
Three people, four days, two thousand yuan
The term "consumption downgrade" frequently appears in the public eye, and the Internet phrase "not that the metropolis can't afford to go, but that the small county is more cost-effective" has also become a "wise saying" for many county tourists.
How provincial is it to travel to a small town? Yiyi (pseudonym), who visited the three places in Guizhou for five or four days, has the most right to speak. "We drove to Zunyi, all the way south to Kaili City, and then to Liping, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, and the three of us spent about 2,500 yuan on food, housing and transportation." As he spoke, Yiyi showed the cost statistics to the reporter of "IT Times".
The place where Yiyi plays is also a popular place according to the statistics of online travel platforms. Fliggy data shows that on the first day of the "May Day" holiday, the travel booking volume of Zunyi, Wanning, Ya'an, Yili, Yuxi, Aksu, Hulunbuir, Turpan and other third- and fourth-tier cities in the west is more than 2 times higher than a week ago, whether it is air tickets or hotel prices, they are obviously more cost-effective, many air tickets can be below 500 yuan, hotel prices are 200~500 yuan, and the choice of space is also larger.
In terms of counties, travel bookings to destinations such as Southwest Guizhou Buyi and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Liupanshui, Ali District, Jiayuguan, Lingshui Li Autonomous County, and Ulanqab increased by an average of two times year-on-year.
Yiyi's family lives in Guangxi, last May Day, she drove to Chaozhou, Guangdong, not only encountered a big traffic jam, but also queued for an hour or two in order to eat a beef hot pot. This year, Yiyi's family decided to stagger the peak and go north to Zunyi, Guizhou.
"Red" is the first impression of many tourists on Zunyi, but less than 200 meters away from the Zunyi conference site, it is the food street of Zunyi City - Laosha Lane, eat slowly and walk slowly, the average price of local delicacies such as mutton powder, roasted vegetables, crispy whistle is only a dozen yuan, and it is also the most crowded place in this tour, so she did not wait long to go to the next stop - Kaili City, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture.
Xiasi Ancient Town, Feiyun Cliff, and Jiuzhou Ancient Town are the three scenic spots that Yiyi plays in Kaili City. Compared with overcrowded tourist cities, the county scenic spot does not have too heavy commercial atmosphere, and it will not be blocked by check-in Internet celebrity attractions, on the contrary, it has a more antique old street atmosphere. A 205 yuan sour soup beef is enough to meet Yiyi's family of three, however, the hotel still can't escape the holiday price increase, Yiyi's hotel May Day price is 320 yuan, compared with the usual one-third of the increase.
From prefecture-level cities to county-level cities to small county towns, Yiyi personally felt that the number of tourists was gradually decreasing, and without the hustle and bustle of the city, the locals who came and went lived their ordinary lives.
Unlock the password to get out of the circle
From Liuzhou snail noodles to Zibo barbecue to Tianshui Malatang, in the era of the Internet of Everything, every small city hides the temperament of popular Internet celebrities, and also has its own exclusive way of "getting out of the circle". If the spread of food and folklore needs to go through the test of taste and historical accumulation, then the fastest and most direct attraction to tourists of the city's "business card" is the festival performance.
Ctrip data shows that during the May Day holiday, the search popularity of concerts, music festivals and other related searches increased by 23% year-on-year, and music festivals in Changzhou, Hefei, Yantai and other places have attracted much attention, not only driving the growth of local hotel accommodation, transportation and catering, but also taking the initiative to launch street concerts in some cities, such as Tianjin's "Bridgeside Music Festival" and Lanzhou's "Yellow River Cantata".
On May 1, Jiayi (pseudonym) and three friends took the high-speed train from Shanghai to Changzhou to participate in the Taihu Bay Music Festival, which has been looking forward to for two months. Jiayi said.
In order to have a better viewing experience, Jiayi brought a picnic mat to the lawn in advance to occupy a "favorable position", and as the number of visitors increased, the picnic mat was also trampled on by some tourists. The premium has naturally become the "standard" of the music festival, "a bottle of mineral water costs 12 yuan, and everything to eat costs 30 or 50 yuan, and the hotel has doubled." In Jiayi's view, in addition to the price, the whole festival was still very successful.
During the November holiday last year, the Taihu Bay Music Festival brought 300,000 music fans to Changzhou, 90% of whom were foreign tourists, driving the flow of people from surrounding scenic spots and hotels, and achieving an income of about 280 million yuan. Changzhou, which has found a way to "get out of the circle", is gradually becoming a music festival destination.
Yang Huiming, chairman of a tourism development company in Changzhou, Jiangsu, said that the ticket was opened on March 3, with a daily ticket capacity of 33,000 people, and the ticket was sold out immediately. For four days from May 1st to May 4th, a total of 132,000 music fans from all over the country were received. At the same time, it also drives the scenic spot of Xueyan Town in Taihu Bay, with more than 220,000 tourists in 5 days, and the direct tourism revenue is expected to be close to 200 million yuan, driving the surrounding consumption of nearly 800 million yuan.
Catch the splashing traffic
1,299 counties and 2,844 county-level administrative districts, according to incomplete statistics, since December 2023, 10 provincial-level administrative regions have added a total of 127 4A-level scenic spots, of which 65% are distributed in counties and county-level cities. Although there are few people in the niche county, this also means that the supporting facilities for tourism will not be too mature.
Wugang, Hunan is Huang Ming's (pseudonym) hometown, and he chose to take a group of friends back to his hometown to play when he also traveled at the wrong peak on May Day. With the popularity of Hunan rice noodles all over the Internet, the rice noodles at the south gate of the century-old store in Wugang also took advantage of the east wind to welcome many tourists, and queuing up for noodles has become a common sight on May Day. In addition, the price of a bowl of rice noodles with ingredients is about 18 yuan, which may be an extremely cheap rice noodle for a tourist city, but Huang Ming, as a local, feels that it is not cheap. The prices of special snacks such as Hunan dried fragrant and pig blood balls have also risen, and Yunshan Forest Park, which was originally free, has begun to charge tickets.
This thousand-year-old city is thinking of using tourism to enter the public eye, and the management and commercialization of scenic spots have become new challenges.
Ctrip Research Institute believes that during this year's May Day holiday, while the popularity is bursting, there are also problems such as insufficient reception capacity of some scenic spots and heavy negative emotions of tourists. It can be expected that the growth rate of the tourism market will gradually flatten, and with the sinking trend of the tourism market and the development of inbound and outbound tourism, the development quality of the domestic tourism market will be more tested. How can first- and second-tier destinations innovate tourism projects on a high-level basis and continue to enhance their attractiveness? How should the third and fourth tier and county markets catch the overwhelming traffic? The speed will be reduced and the quality will be the main theme of the tourism market in the future.
Typesetting / Ji Jiaying
Photo/ Interviewee
Source/"IT Times" official account vittimes
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