Why leave your vacation to a "small place"? , “reverse tourism” becomes mainstream

The army of "entering Zi for re-examination" is advancing strongly into the "eight majors"; Tianshui, Gansu continues to be "hot and hot"; "godmother" appears in Kaifeng, Henan, causing young people to rush to find love... This year's "May Day" holiday, many people choose to escape In traditional scenic spots, go to Treasure Town and start a "reverse tour".

The flow of traffic blows "in the opposite direction" to small counties. Ctrip's "2024 May Day Tourism Trend Insight Report" shows that tourism in fourth-tier and below cities, county market hotels, and scenic spot ticket booking orders increased by 140%, 68%, and 151% year-on-year respectively, all outperforming the national market. Why does a “small place” attract huge traffic?

Linhai Ziyang Street is packed with tourists. Photo provided by interviewee

On the first day of the short holiday, the first wave of tourists from Taizhou Fucheng have arrived despite the rain. Before Zhang Tianyu from Shanghai had time to open the "Nuojiji" map, the "Thirty-Six Lines" street patrol team organized by the local cultural tourism organization passed by, "feeding" snacks such as egg white lamb tails and seaweed cakes. "This is the right place!" Zhang Tianyu sighed.

This choice is actually not unfamiliar. The tourism industry, which was strongly "restarted" last year, is heating up again this year. The direction of tourism has quietly changed, and everyone's travel destinations are pointing to "small places." According to statistics, on the 3rd, Taizhou Fucheng Cultural Tourism Zone received a total of 231,200 tourists, ranking first among ancient cities and towns in the country.

Taizhou Fucheng's "Thirty-six Rows" street patrol activity. Photographed by friend Wang Guanyong

We went to a "small town" by chance. What on earth were we going to do?

"Every city has its own temperament, go and experience the life of the locals!" is the answer given by Wang Xinmiao, a post-95s boy from Zhejiang who has "seconded to Zibo". Instead of going to scenic spots, the "Eight Great Bureau" vegetable market has become his travel choice. The first station. When someone wonders what to see in a wet market, all six doors here have opened traffic restrictions on May Day.

"Eat snail noodles! It's also a good place to change the 'class flavor'." When the reporter contacted Chen Ting, a post-00s generation, she was on her way to Liuzhou and temporarily posted on the social platform: "I will be in Liuzhou in two hours, please ask the locals for the guide." Easily unlock authentic gameplay.

I went to a county for a bowl of noodles or even a feeling. It is not difficult to see that the county has burst out with strong tourism development momentum. Throughout the country, Zhejiang is the leader. In the list of the top 100 counties with comprehensive county tourism strength in the country in 2023, Zhejiang accounts for 32 places. Among the top ten, Zhejiang performs outstandingly, and Anji County in Huzhou ranks first for five consecutive years.

Anji’s “Village Cafe” sold 7,941 cups on the 3rd

Where is the "face" of the top brother on the list? A village coffee shop in Anji set a national single-day single-store coffee sales record. Is it really that exaggerated? On the afternoon of the 3rd, Lu Dan, who came from Jiaxing, drove to Hongmiao Village, Meixi Town, Anji County with doubts. This cafe "grew" out of an abandoned mine pit covering an area of ​​300 acres, with mountains and rivers everywhere in his sight. "The scenery is so beautiful." It’s so exciting!” On that day, 50 shop assistants operated 37 coffee machines, producing 7,941 cups, and customers from the United Kingdom and Russia came to check in.

According to Dai Xuefeng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, it is not accidental for small towns to "go out of the circle". This is an inevitable trend in tourism development. After seeing the famous mountains and rivers, many small towns that were “unpopular” in the past but have unique resources behind them were “seen”. Behind this, one is the change in travel demand, and the other is the accumulation of small towns.

The first is the improvement and upgrading of county tourism facilities, which provides necessary support for exiting the industry. With the development of small towns, railways and highways have gradually become denser, and airports have woven a convenient transportation network, shortening the time and space distance. "Tour xx on the high-speed rail" has become a loud slogan shouted by many small towns for cultural tourism promotion, and the "down-to-earth" Foshan Airport has even become a check-in point for young people to pursue. In addition, subways, intercity railways, and large-scale shared bicycles have given tourists more choices in the field of small transportation. In addition, the continuous improvement of infrastructure and supporting services has also increased the carrying capacity of the town.

2024 "Road to Tang Poetry in Eastern Zhejiang" Shengzhou Landscape Challenge

Secondly, Xiaocheng breaks through the industry with new business formats and has its own core competitiveness. During the May Day holiday, Shengzhou’s cultural tourism activities were “new”. When the Shengzhou Landscape Challenge kicked off in Guimen Township, the rhythm of the Yue Opera town in Ganlin Town slowed down, and the audience was immersed in the charm of Yue Opera. At the Wangyuan Camping Base in Gulai Town, many tourists gathered with lawn music. Enjoy the leisurely breeze blowing under the sky.

If we say, camping tourism and sports tourism have added more "selling" points to this city known as the "Hometown of Yue Opera". We might as well view the whole of Zhejiang from one county. In recent years, ice and snow tourism, food tourism, ocean tourism, tourism and performing arts, suburban leisure, urban roaming and other industries have been continuously updated and iterated, creating the unique competitiveness of small towns.

In addition, it is indispensable to leverage the power of the platform. The cultural tourism market has also moved from offline to online. Quzhou in western Zhejiang, although the counties under its jurisdiction are all among the "26 mountainous counties", it has accurately grasped the "network sense" and "pre-empted" many times. Last year, Kaihua launched the "Tour Guide Hiring with a Million Annual Salary" program, which created extraordinary influence. This year, Quzhou once again pushed "Quzhou's caviar production is No. 1 in the country" to the front row of hot searches, and even "swayed" the celebrity Zhou Xun to speak for his hometown: "Waiting for the spring to come and the flowers blooming, see you all in Quzhou" "Jiang!" Netizens shouted: "You have figured out how to play the Internet!"

The traffic is like an open gate, pushing the small town into the spotlight. What can be left after the "highlight"?

On May 2, when the reporter contacted Li Peng, an aboriginal member of the "Eight Bureaus", he recalled that in the more than a year since his hometown was out of the circle, the "Eight Bureaus" stores had undergone a major reshuffle, with some businesses swarming in, but then As the market gradually cooled down, some new stores did not persist. "But after the temperature dropped, Zibo is still ten times more lively than before." Li Peng said.

"The emergence of Xiaocheng from the circle is like the butterfly effect. It has the contingency of the market, but also the necessity of returning to daily life after becoming popular." Dai Xuefeng said that once the traffic comes, Xiaocheng must be able to absorb it on the one hand, and on the other hand, it cannot be for short-term online success. attention and excessive consumption of resources.

But Xiaocheng did not give up and explored the endless possibilities behind the circle.

Zibo is thinking about how to continue to amplify the spillover effect of barbecue and build a "temporary phenomenon" into a "city brand"? They are committed to cultivating new productive forces in the field of cultural tourism, laying out new business formats such as urban roaming, industrial tourism, rural tourism, study tourism, museum tourism, etc., and exploring the "second half of the story" of barbecue.

"Since April, the traffic has shown explosive growth again." Li Peng can see the change in the popularity of "Eight Big Game" through the window of his home. As the "student tyrant" in the small town's circle, Zibo ushered in the "Re-baked" army. But this time, they not only had barbecue, but also went to the Qi Culture Museum to see the ancient capital of Qi more than 2,000 years ago, which has become a new trend in tourism.

Zibo's "eight major games" May 1st is very popular. More small towns are gradually exploring their own ways to become popular.

Linhai, who was out of the entertainment industry because of "Nuo Chi Chi", chose to continue to dig deeper into history and let the heritage become the password of "retention". Combining Song Yun aesthetics with Fucheng culture, new products such as the Meipu Kiln Song Yun Living Art Museum were launched, and the Song Yun collective wedding held became popular abroad; Shengzhou, which has become popular due to "Yue Opera", has brought together the Tang Poetry Road and the scenic spots in Yanzhong , Shengzhou snacks and other unique elements promote the deep integration of sports with business, culture, tourism and other fields; Anji, which is famous for "one village, one scene", takes advantage of the beautiful scenery in the entire region to explore new paths for the development of modern rural tourism, and constantly launches new products, New services and new business formats.