Third, life-like scenarios have become important objects of tourism consumption. Unlike the past practice of going straight to scenic spots, more and more tourists are paying attention to experiencing local life. A life atmosphere full of "human touch" strongly attracts tourists. Barbecue, night snacks, and other life scenes, as well as bathhouses and restaurants, have become tourist attractions. The close integration of tourism consumption with local life scenarios creates a fusion of self and others, blurring the boundaries of supply and demand, and integrating producers and consumers, thus dissolving the "duality" between tourism and life.

Fourth, online dissemination is an important tool for stimulating tourism consumption. Whether it is "Zibo barbecue" or "Harbin" tourism, short videos have played the role of "match" and "booster" in dissemination. A survey by the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that online channels have become dominant in terms of obtaining tourism information. Among various channels, short video platforms and online community platforms rank first and second. It is worth mentioning that not only do tourists mainly rely on the internet to obtain information, but the entire tourism consumption market also shows internet characteristics: user-generated content driven, traffic is king, topic marketing, "viral dissemination," making the destination quickly become the center of topics and traffic, even forming a so-called "media pilgrimage," that is, "traveling to important places in media narratives." Using online dissemination as a medium, the government, locals, users from other places, and short video platforms have jointly formed a multi-layered nested and smoothly operating content production and dissemination chain.

Fifth, strong government support is the key to tourist satisfaction. Tourist consumption in a destination involves many aspects, and the local government, as the provider of public services and the maintainer of the consumption environment, plays an irreplaceable important role. From Zibo's "barbecue trains," special bus lines, "barbecue maps," and "barbecue escort operations," to Harbin's crackdown on taxi overcharging, extending airport bus and subway operating hours, "launching" artificial moons, inflatable boats on the Songhua River, and setting up cold protection facilities on the roads, all reflect the government's active efforts. The above-mentioned local governments have promptly established a tourism public service system that is comprehensive and well-managed, ensuring the smooth and comfortable experience of tourists in every aspect of tourism consumption.

Sixth, the enthusiasm and love of residents are important factors in tourist satisfaction. In Zibo, local car owners consciously give way to vehicles from other places, shop owners spontaneously provide free accommodation, and local drivers provide free pick-up and drop-off services for tourists from other places during holidays. These acts of kindness have greatly enhanced Zibo's reputation and attractiveness. The popularity of "Harbin" tourism is also inseparable from the countless enthusiastic and hospitable "Harbin people." The strong sense of ownership among local residents has maintained and enhanced the city's image.

Whether it is recent Zibo and Harbin, or previous Chongqing, Changsha, and Xi'an, their popularity reflects, to a certain extent, the transformation of tourism development trends and inherent logic. This transformation is a superposition of short-term and long-term factors, and a collision between supply and demand. Accurately grasping and guiding these trend changes is crucial for promoting the high-quality development of China's tourism industry.

Firstly, the logic of tourism development has changed. With changes in the economic and social environment and the leap in the development stage of tourism itself, the basis, purpose, methods, and logic of tourism development have undergone certain changes. In the past, tourism development was supply-oriented, i.e., "providing whatever we have," while it is increasingly becoming demand-oriented, i.e., "providing whatever tourists need." The development sequence of supply-oriented development is from resource surveys, industrial planning, hardware construction to product design, activity planning, and marketing promotion; demand-oriented development starts with tourist needs, with tourists as "producers and consumers," having greater initiative and voice in the development and evolution of the destination. Previous tourism development mainly revolved around "two old" resources, namely cultural resources left by our ancestors and natural resources given by nature, while now the lifestyles of ordinary people are becoming increasingly important. Previous tourism development focused more on physical objects and hardware, while now emotions, feelings, and experiences are more attractive. The main purpose of developing tourism in the past was to drive economic growth, while now more attention is paid to the non-industrial and non-economic functions of tourism, especially the improvement of local comprehensive management capabilities and overall appearance.

Secondly, the logic of tourism demand has changed. From the perspective of demand, tourists' tourism needs are more differentiated, personalized, and diversified. The needs of different consumer groups show a trend of differentiation. The products and projects needed by "Generation Z," family tourism, women's tourism, and senior tourism are different. Tourists' demand for niche tourism destinations and customized tourism products is becoming more prominent. Little-known small counties, small scenic spots, and niche activities may attract attention with the help of the Internet. Tourists prefer to experience local lifestyles, scenes, and experiences, and the demand for shared experiences between hosts and guests is more common. This puts higher demands on destination management. Foreign tourists and local residents should achieve "moderate mixing" and "necessary separation" in terms of activity space and public facilities use; there should be a certain degree of mixing, but also necessary separation.

Tourists taking travel photos in Yanji | Photo by Guan Yuting

Thirdly, the logic of tourism investment has changed. Previously, affected by the dividends of urbanization and real estate development, most tourism investments relied on large-scale projects, and some projects obtained returns through the "tourism + real estate" development model. Currently, the boom in large-scale tourism investment is gradually subsiding, and small-scale investments or "small but beautiful" boutique project investments are becoming mainstream. Compared with investment scale, investment increment, and hard development, investment efficiency, stock activation, and soft development are becoming increasingly important. Against the backdrop of the shift towards refined tourism investment, more attention is paid to the quality of tourism projects themselves and their sustainable operational capabilities.

Fourthly, the logic of tourism marketing has changed. In the Internet age, the openness of new media and the sharability of tourism activities coincide to a certain extent. Timely and convenient new media can not only enrich tourism marketing and communication channels, accurately aggregate target audiences, and promote interactive experience conversion, but also break the one-way nature of traditional media information dissemination, allowing the audience to also become creators and disseminators. With the help of new media, people can not only discover new attractions and destinations but also update the ways to play in traditional scenic spots. New media, especially short video platforms, play a crucial role in the entire process of tourists' "planting grass—decision-making—travel—sharing." If destination tourism marketing in the past was mainly "self-shaping" (i.e., establishing the destination image itself), then it currently relies on both "other-shaping" (i.e., the Internet and tourists shaping the destination image), and the latter's role is even greater. The IP-ization and community-ization of destination brands are becoming increasingly important. Whether a destination can scientifically utilize various new media and whether it can convert public opinion heat into tourism revenue has become particularly important.

Fifthly, the form of the tourism industry has changed. With the changes in tourism demand and the evolution of industrial development, the form of the tourism industry shows two different trends. On the one hand, cross-border integration of the tourism industry is becoming increasingly obvious, with the integration of culture, sports, tourism, business, agriculture, health, and education, and the trend of tourism + all industries or all industries + tourism is becoming increasingly obvious; on the other hand, tourism elements are developing independently. Each element in the original "eating, lodging, travel, shopping, entertainment" combined business format may develop in an independent direction. For example, themed hotels, boutique hotels, homestays, resorts, campsites, and scenic roads are the result of the independent development of the "lodging" element, and tourism cultural performances, tourism events, competitions, leisure streets, and cultural streets are the result of the independent development of the "food" and "entertainment" elements. Cross-border integration and independent development are like two endpoints, and the business format spectrum between them is becoming more complex and diverse.

Suzhou Humble Administrator's Garden launches the "Humble Administrator's Elegant Questions" night garden tour project

The formation of tourism internet celebrity cities has a positive role in enhancing the city's image and driving tourism consumption. However, it should also be recognized that, from the perspective of media dissemination laws or tourism development laws, it is impossible for there to be long-lasting internet celebrities, nor is it possible for every place to become an internet celebrity. While temporary popularity can enhance the destination's popularity, it may also lead to "filter breakage" or be "backlashed" by the media, and the long-term sustainable development of the destination cannot rely on short-term "online frenzy".

For internet celebrity cities, it is necessary to rationally understand that the focus of media dissemination will shift at any time. On the one hand, it is necessary to seize the time window, improve comprehensive services, fully utilize the short-lived spotlight effect, shape and enhance the local image, and transform the high degree of online attention in the short term into tourism attractiveness; on the other hand, it is necessary to adhere to long-termism, improve industrial planning, realistically plan the local industrial development layout and tourism service support, and comprehensively improve the overall level of tourism development.

For other cities, they should not blindly follow the trend, blindly pursue superficial prosperity and popularity while ignoring the improvement of internal capabilities; nor should they lose their own cultural characteristics for the sake of temporary popularity, imitating others blindly. From a more general and long-term perspective, tourism is indeed a form of attention economy, but attention alone is far from enough. Even in the Internet age, there are no shortcuts to destination construction, and its high-quality development relies on unique cultural taste, complete supporting facilities, diverse industrial forms, high-quality products and services, convenient smart facilities, a good consumption environment, and a friendly social atmosphere. Obviously, all of these require long-term and continuous efforts.