The Ancient Town Tourism Development Index is an important indicator for evaluating the development level of ancient town tourism. From the perspective of tourists, the research team constructed an index system from three dimensions: search popularity (pre-trip), tourism popularity (during trip), and tourist satisfaction (post-trip); selected 70 ancient towns (ancient cities, ancient villages) (hereinafter collectively referred to as ancient towns) with high market attention as samples; comprehensively used big data monitoring systems, "tourist satisfaction" results, tourism big data platform questionnaires, and data from Baidu, Ctrip, Mafengwo, etc. from November 2023 to October 2024; after data cleaning and analysis, scientifically and quantitatively evaluated the development level of ancient town tourism.

Comprehensive Tourism Development Index: Ancient town scenic spots in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Yunnan, Shanxi, and Xiangxi regions are relatively high. Among them, Wuzhen and Lijiang Ancient City are in the leading position with an absolute advantage; the tourism development level of scenic spots such as Fenghuang Ancient Town, Pingyao Ancient City, Hongcun Scenic Area, Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, Dali Ancient City, Xitang Ancient Town, Nanxun Ancient Town, and Maguikou Ancient Town is relatively high.

Tourism Search Popularity Index: The search popularity index of ancient town scenic spots such as Wuzhen, Fenghuang Ancient City, Lijiang Ancient City, and Pingyao Ancient City ranks among the top 70 ancient towns, covering different types of ancient town scenic spots such as Jiangnan water towns, Xiangxi ethnic customs, Southwest Silk Road ancient cities, and northern courtyards, becoming the leader in the search popularity of ancient town tourism in various regions. In addition, the search popularity index of Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, Hongcun Scenic Area, Dali Ancient City, Nanxun Ancient Town, and Xitang Ancient Town is also relatively high, making them highly-focused ancient town scenic spots in the domestic market.

Tourism Popularity Index: Affected by the volume, the passenger flow popularity index of ancient city-type scenic spots is higher than that of ancient towns. Among them, Lijiang Ancient City, Maguikou Ancient Town, Kashgar Ancient City, Fenghuang Ancient City, Langzhong Ancient City, Jianshui Ancient City, Wuzhen Scenic Area, Nanxun Ancient Town, and Xitang Ancient Town have high tourism popularity. Clearly distinguishing between ancient city and ancient town scenic spots, Maguikou Ancient Town, Wuzhen Scenic Area, Nanxun Ancient Town, Xitang Ancient Town, Tongli Ancient Town, and Zhouzhuang Ancient Town have high tourism popularity.

Tourist Satisfaction Index: As an important indicator for measuring the quality of tourists' tourism experience, satisfaction reflects tourists' overall evaluation of the ancient town environment, accommodation facilities and catering service quality, folk performances, public leisure facilities, etc. Among the 70 ancient town scenic spots, Lijiang Ancient City, Hongcun Scenic Area, Wuzhen Scenic Area, Xitang Ancient Town, Dali Ancient City, Pingyao Ancient City, Zhouzhuang Ancient Town, Fenghuang Ancient City, Maguikou Ancient Town, and Zhenbeibao Ancient City have high tourist evaluations, among which Jiangnan water towns account for three.

Overall, whether it is search popularity, tourism popularity, or tourist satisfaction, Jiangnan water towns show spatial agglomeration characteristics of a high level of development, belonging to the first echelon of China's ancient town tourism development.

Development Trend of Jiaxing Ancient Town Tourism

Jiaxing City, Zhejiang Province, is in the first echelon in the ancient town tourism development index. The city has many ancient towns of various types, including relatively mature Wuzhen and Xitang, newly developed Puyuan and Yanguan, and a batch of ancient town tourism resources with development potential such as Wangjiangjing, Xin Cheng, and Shendang. Among them, Wuzhen and Xitang Ancient Town have high development indexes among the 70 ancient town scenic spots. At the national level, Jiaxing has the foundation and conditions to lead the development of ancient town tourism in terms of the number, quality, and innovation of ancient town scenic spots.

The city's annual passenger flow heat map shows that Wuzhen, Xitang Ancient Town, and Puyuan Fashion Ancient Town are important tourist gathering areas, as well as holiday tourism hotspots. This is closely related to the differentiated characteristic cultural brands formed by Jiaxing ancient towns in recent years.

Jiaxing ancient towns lead the high-quality development of ancient town tourism with continuous innovation, meeting the yearning of the diversified market for a better life. The status of "China's ancient towns look to Jiaxing" continues to be consolidated.