Zhejiang is a province I often visit, and Hangzhou is a city I particularly like. I have also visited Wuzhen and Xitang in Jiaxing.
▲Night view of Wuzhen West Gate, photo taken by the author
However, this trip to Haimen was my first time. To be honest, I was a little apprehensive after receiving the invitation.
When I was on the coastal boardwalk of Haimen's large windmills, in the Yunxiu Temple of Nanhu Scenic Area, and in the Conceptual Geometry Bookstore in Shendang Granary, I discovered that there was no shortage of tourists here.
Why are more and more tourists, especially young people, starting to love "heading to the counties"? Are there any underlying patterns?
1. Changes in consumption concepts
We are no longer unfamiliar with "reverse tourism." It represents a change in consumer concepts on the client side, no longer chasing traditional popular attractions.
Anti-check-in, anti-crowding, and blind box experiences. Young people seeking freedom and ease, and county-level areas are "mutually seeking each other".
Compared to crowded big cities and traditional tourist destinations, cost-effective, unique, relaxing, and down-to-earth hidden gem towns have become their new choice.
Post-90s have become the main force of cultural and tourism consumption. They are the opposite of their parents. "Visiting a place" is meaningless. They need to find a comfortable place to relax for two days to relieve the stress of work.
2. Changes in payment ability
"It's not that we can't afford big cities, but that small counties offer better value for money."
In Haimen, I was surprised to find that a dinner for six members of the inspection team plus 12 local staff cost only 600 yuan. Even higher-end dinners cost no more than 1,000 yuan.
I don't need to say much about the current economic situation. Middle-class families and young workers in big cities are all being careful with their spending. They want to travel on weekends, but also want to save money. Surrounding counties are the best choice.
At the post-inspection seminar, Yu Dongdong from Ningbo Tupair said that the local prices in Haimen are really low in the Hangzhou Bay urban agglomeration, and this point is worth promoting.
▲Yunxiu Temple's voluntary payment for plain noodles
In my post-meeting summary report, I proposed a slogan of "Not expensive, not far; beautiful scenery, beautiful countryside." Haimen is less than 100 kilometers from Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Ningbo.
"Not far" also means "not expensive." The lower the transportation and time costs, the easier it is for tourists to choose this place.
3. Changes in infrastructure
I mentioned earlier that I was apprehensive. Actually, my biggest concern was the infrastructure in the county. I was worried that it might be relatively backward. After arriving, I realized that I was overthinking.
The fifth Kaiyuan Senbo Hotel in China opened this month in Nanhu, Haimen. In addition to over 400 guest rooms, the hotel also has water bungalows, lakeside castles, and lawn cabins.
▲Kaiyuan Senbo Hotel in Nanhu
It also has a 31,000㎡ indoor and outdoor water park, a 2,300㎡ children's playground, a 9,600㎡ therapeutic hot spring, a 30,700㎡ mine outdoor exploration area, a Senhuo Family Club, and a pet park are being launched.
In addition to high-standard resorts, the Conceptual Geometry Bookstore in Shendang Granary particularly impressed us. It's as photogenic as other popular bookstores, but it also has empty seats for reading.
▲Conceptual Geometry Bookstore
Under the wave of rural revitalization, county-level consumption is upgrading to quality and enjoyment. Cafes, boutique homestays, outdoor camps, and water sports are no longer exclusive to big cities.
How can the already popular county-level tourism continue to thrive?
From quiet obscurity to a surge of tourists, a flood of traffic has descended upon these small towns. There are still many challenges to seizing this opportunity.
To make the boom in county tourism last, to transform from a fleeting internet sensation into lasting popularity, we must adopt a long-term perspective and avoid treating it as a one-off deal.
▲Jin Su Temple, Zhejiang's oldest temple
The influx of investment into the county is a positive industry signal, but in many aspects, counties still lag significantly behind traditional tourist cities.
How can the already popular county-level tourism continue to thrive?
1. Continuously cultivate innovative business models
Based on the opinions of five experts, my summary report for Haimen suggests quickly developing several core scenes with the potential to become internet sensations.
Develop products around these scenes to attract people, then use topic hype to popularize new scenes and make them the new core attractions of the area.
Qi Yuan, one of China's top ten famous gardens, covers an area of 10,000 square meters. The 1987 version of "Dream of the Red Chamber" filmed scenes such as "Bao Chai catching butterflies" and "Xiao Hong's private conversation" here.
Currently, the large Qi Yuan only offers sightseeing. We suggest creating a "Bao Chai-style" Dream of the Red Chamber afternoon tea within the garden to extend visitor stay time.
Such scenes are not uncommon in domestic Ming and Qing architecture. Last year in Chengde, I saw that many "escaped princesses" enjoyed tea and selfies at the Chunhao Pavilion in the Mountain Resort.
Another suggestion is to copy successful examples. This year, the mass choir at Dunhuang's Mingsha Mountain has repeatedly gained popularity on state media, becoming a highlight of the area.
The drone show at Nanbeih Lake at night, performed on the lakeside lawn, felt a bit bland to me. Adding this mass choir scene might make it different.
Even if we can't achieve thousands, based on my observation that day, organizing hundreds of people to sing under the moonlight with drones would definitely be popular with young people.
2. Create Buzz, Generate Traffic
On my first day in Haimen, Wang Ju from the Haimen Cultural Tourism Bureau told me: "Teacher Xiao, do you know? The headquarters of the Sky Eagle Cult in Jin Yong's novels is in our Haimen!"
As a veteran Jin Yong fan, I immediately checked the information. In the revised version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", Chapter 10, there is this description:
Yin Susu proudly said: "I killed him! At that time, I hadn't married Zhang Wu-xia, and I didn't know him! It was clearly the Sky Eagle Cult that did it, but you blamed it on the Wudang School, isn't that unfair? If you want revenge, go find the Sky Eagle Cult. The headquarters of the Sky Eagle Cult is in Yingke Peak at Nanbeih Lake in Haimen County, Jiangsu Province!"
A few days later, I hiked to Yingke Peak and found that it is indeed a geomantic treasure, and there are signs specifically set up for martial arts fans to check in.
Among the tens of millions of Jin Yong fans, I estimate that most people, like me, only know that Jin Yong was born in Jiaxing, but don't know that he wrote all the mountains and rivers of his hometown into his books.
Promoting the location of the Sky Eagle Cult headquarters, combined with the beautiful sunset scene near Yingke Peak's Baiyung Pavilion, I don't believe the master's fans won't come.
Precisely because Haimen doesn't have a large 5A attraction like Wuzhen as its core attraction, it needs to design differentiated gimmicks for different groups of people.
For example, young people choose to burn incense instead of striving for advancement or working. Jin Su Temple ("Zhejiang's oldest temple"), Tianning Temple's Thousand Buddha Pavilion ("Zhejiang's number one pavilion"), and Yunxiu Temple ("Night Putuo") all have the basis for topic hype.
▲Jin Su Temple, Thousand Buddha Pavilion, Yunxiu Temple
3. Strengthen Supervision, Cultivate Talent
Zeng Gang, dean of the Urban Development Research Institute of East China Normal University, believes that if county tourism wants to thrive, regular industry supervision and talent cultivation are important factors driving development.
He cited examples of some county towns where there are no parking lots near scenic spots, and even villagers setting up illegal toll booths on the roads.
In counties, we must also learn from mature destinations to establish a sound tourism complaint handling mechanism to improve the quality of cultural and tourism services.
I found that Haimen's research and study sites lack professional research and study instructor teams, and the number of cultural institution explainers is also insufficient.
▲Zhang Leping Memorial Hall
The success of any project depends on people. We need to cultivate a team of public explainers through society and a part-time research and study instructor team through schools to fill the talent gap.
Haimen's Example: Reflections for the Cultural and Tourism Industry
I often go to counties to investigate cultural and tourism projects,
Aksai County in Gansu, Zhushan County in Hubei, and Dushan County in Guizhou all have similar problems.
Two years later, in Zhejiang, where the county economy is most developed, Haimen's example has given me unprecedented positive inspiration.
▲Beautiful countryside construction in Haimen County
Recognizing and leveraging their "small but beautiful" advantages will allow more "treasured small towns" to shine and gain popularity.
1. Product Value for Money is Always King
In the first half of this year, the total social retail sales of first-tier cities, except for Shenzhen, which increased by 1%, Guangzhou remained flat, while Beijing and Shanghai fell by 0.3% and 2.3% respectively.
In June, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen fell by 6.3%, 9.4%, 9.3%, and 2.2% respectively. The decline in consumer demand in first-tier cities is inevitable.
When economic growth slows, the manifestation of weakening consumer expectations is: consumption becomes more rational, no longer blindly comparative, and increasingly focused on value for money.
Counties are small, so they should show the friendliness of a small town. They should not only maintain a high cost-effective level of cultural and tourism consumption, but also remain calm during holiday peak seasons.
Never get carried away just because you've become an internet sensation. Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it. Once you raise prices and gouge customers, there won't be a next time.
2. Upgraded Demand After Market Penetration
Dai Bin, director of the China Tourism Academy, pointed out in an interview with Xinhua News Agency: "Tourists, tourism professionals, and cadres and staff of the culture and tourism system should all see that a new era of mass tourism with market penetration and upgraded demand has arrived."
There are two keywords in Director Dai's statement, which I have extracted and analyzed: market penetration and upgraded demand.
That's right, the seemingly simultaneous rise and fall of the two presents new demands on our destination governments and tourism enterprises.
Whether you are a small city in the fourth or fifth tier or an unknown county, the mass tourism market has penetrated here, and you cannot sit idly by and wait for help.
Along with this wave of traffic comes an upgrade in tourism consumption demand, which needs to be met with more innovative business models, such as the scenarios suggested in the previous article.
▲Fengyi Village Internet celebrity village cafe
Tourists no longer pursue taking photos with traditional big IPs, but care more about individual comfort and the emotional value contained in the product.
3. How to Maintain Rational Prosperity in the Industry
As early as after the National Day Golden Week last year, some people in the industry proposed: "The tourism economy will enter a new stage of 'rational prosperity'.
▲Guanjiangyuan Creative White Soy Sauce Ice Cream
Sure enough, from my perspective, I found that the travel agency industry this year is generally not as good as last year, and the financial reports of local tourism groups in the first half of the year are full of laments.
In this stage of rational prosperity, I believe that adhering to the following three mentalities is more conducive to the long-term development of the industry and enterprises:
First, flexibility.Outbound tourism from North America has dropped to an invisible level, but the routes to the Middle East have increased compared to 2019; in the domestic tourism market, the growth rate of first- and second-tier cities is less than that of third- and fourth-tier cities, and the growth rate of third- and fourth-tier cities is less than that of county-level markets. We must also adjust in time.
▲Yanpingfu. Haian Restaurant
Second, positive. If we don't seize the opportunity of great wealth, especially if we don't deeply understand user needs to innovate business models and create scenarios, and turn traffic into retention, it will inevitably lead to decline after becoming an internet celebrity.
Third, optimism. At the Kim Koo refuge in the Nanbeih Lake Scenic Area, Xia Xia, the guide, told us that there are often Korean student groups or Korean nationals in China visiting, and the number of foreign guests is considerable.
Counties are also trying to attract inbound tourism. Friends in the same industry who have encountered some obstacles this year should not sigh or belittle themselves.
If your business has stagnated, you might as well take a look at the vast county areas. The next round of opportunities may be here.
