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^{🔹data map: on september 26, the tianluokeng tulou group in nanjing county, fujian province attracted many tourists to visit and take photos. photo by china news service reporter zhang jinchuan}

during the national day holiday, the "people follow the herd" model was officially launched. enthusiastic tourists not only flock to popular tourist cities, but also to relaxed and leisurely small county towns.

in the past two years, county tourism has boomed, and the niche has begun to become popular. according to the "national county tourism development research report 2024", the average total tourism revenue of 1,866 counties in the country in 2023 will be 4.295 billion yuan, and the average number of total tourists received will be 5.0827 million, a year-on-year increase of 41.19% and 35.18% respectively.

this craze of "going to the county" has continued into this year's national day holiday. data from the tourism platform shows that during the national day holiday, the popularity of tourism in small county towns continued to rise, driving orders for cultural tourism in many counties to double.

"ben county" is highly favored

different from the previous "special forces-style travel", county tourism is more like a lifestyle sojourn, with a slower and more relaxed pace, which is very attractive to people in big cities who have lived a fast-paced life for a long time.

the "2024 national day tourism forecast report" released by ctrip shows that during the national day, tourists from first- and second-tier cities drove rural travel orders to increase by more than 60%, and county travel orders increased by 20% year-on-year.

from a regional perspective, counties and cities located near central cities or well-known scenic spots have received higher attention. these areas are either rich in tourism resources, have high direct access to transportation stations, or are located in economic circles or belts with good infrastructure construction.

ms. zhang, who works in nanjing, plans to use the national day holiday this year to visit counties and towns in her hometown of anhui. she told the state council that anhui, her hometown, is now developing rapidly, and some counties have also undergone earth-shaking changes. compared with popular tourist cities, going to a county or a small town can not only escape the "conformity" of the city, but also have more local characteristics and interest. "each county has its own characteristics and stories."

there are not many people like ms. zhang who are traveling to counties. county tourism is becoming a new favorite in cultural tourism consumption. taking the recent summer as an example, ctrip's "2024 summer tourism market forecast report" shows that this summer, travel orders in fifth-tier cities increased by 34% year-on-year, and travel orders in county areas increased by 22% year-on-year, both higher than the growth in first-tier cities and new first-tier cities. speed.

data from multiple tourism platforms show that although popular first- and second-tier cities are still the main destinations for tourism, niche cities, cities below third-tier cities, counties and central towns have gradually become new growth points for domestic tourism.

the accommodation industry is the epitome of the tourism market, and the hot wind of county tourism has unsurprisingly spread to county b&bs.hu yang, senior vice president of tujia b&bsaid that more and more people are willing to explore the county. since the beginning of this year, county b&bs have shown a boom in supply and demand, with both bookings and supply exceeding the market average.

multiple factors boost county tourism

the popularity of county tourism is no accident.

"in the current context of increasingly diversified tourism methods, the tourism industry will definitely develop towards regional tourism with counties as the core. it is inevitable that county tourism will become popular."li mingde, academic consultant at the tourism research center of the chinese academy of social sciencesit is a direct express to china news service.

compared with traditional mass tourism destinations, counties with fewer crowds, beautiful scenery and unique characteristics are more attractive and more cost-effective. with the improvement of infrastructure in county scenic spots and optimization of accommodation services, more and more consumers who pursue personalized travel experiences are more willing to choose to explore the county.

^{🔹data map: shanbei village, gezhuping town, xupu county, huaihua city, hunan province: "four good rural roads" helps the development of rural tourism. photo by fa tian wenguo, china news service}

the substantial improvement of transportation conditions is an important prerequisite for the rise of county tourism. according to data from china state railway group co., ltd., it is expected that by 2025, my country's high-speed rail will cover 98% of cities with an urban population of more than 500,000, and the high-speed rail network coverage will continue to increase.

li mingde pointed out that a series of favorable measures launched by the government and the policy direction of rural revitalization have boosted the boom in county tourism. in 2023, nine departments including the ministry of commerce jointly released the "three-year action plan for county business (2023-2025)", proposing to create high-quality routes such as rural tourism, leisure agriculture, farm entertainment, and self-driving tours. many counties and central towns have found new opportunities for development.

"with favorable policies, tourism has become an important industrial development direction for some counties with conditions and resources, which is a reflection of the county's initiative and active exploration of self-development paths." li mingde said.

mckinsey predicts that by 2030, more than 66% of china's personal consumption growth will come from sinking markets. li mingde believes that county tourism will create opportunities and provide opportunities for the comprehensive development of counties.

tourism demand is surging, how can counties take the exam?

the craze of "going to the county" has brought rare development opportunities to county cultural tourism, and it has also brought multi-dimensional tests.

not all tourists get a pleasant experience when they go to the county town to check in. on the internet, there are many complaints from young tourists about their trip to the county, such as imperfect supporting facilities, irregular tourism market, high fees, dirty environment and other issues.

in the face of the sudden surge in tourism demand, it is obvious that not all counties are ready.

li mingde pointed out that if the county wants to catch the "tremendous wealth" of cultural tourism, it needs to learn to go to the market and strengthen marketing thinking. at the same time, we will strengthen the construction of infrastructure, tourism reception facilities and other hardware, and enhance related commercial and service industry supporting facilities.

in addition, we should actively create a soft environment for high-quality services, strengthen service awareness, and create a harmonious, civilized, and integrated tourism atmosphere.

an article published by the china culture and media group research institute pointed out that for small county towns, improving the quality of tourism public services is a top priority. it is necessary to establish a normalized supervision mechanism and make more efforts to improve tourists’ travel experience. more importantly, small towns must remain rational when introducing cultural tourism projects, pay attention to the excavation and inheritance of local culture, and avoid blindly following the trend of building large-scale construction projects and wasting people and money.

although there are still problems to be solved, in li mingde's view, the development of county tourism is the general trend and has huge future growth potential, which will drive the development of the overall cultural tourism industry.