Third, localized life scenes have become important objects of tourism consumption. Unlike the past where tourists went straight to scenic spots, in recent years, more and more tourists are focusing on experiencing local distinctive life. A life atmosphere full of "everyday charm" strongly attracts tourists. Life scenes such as barbecue and late-night snacks, and living places like bathhouses and restaurants have become tourist attractions. The close integration of tourism consumption with local life scenes creates a blending of self and other, blurred supply-demand boundaries, and the integration of producers and consumers, thereby dissolving the "duality" of tourism and life.

Fourth, online dissemination is an important tool for stimulating tourism consumption. Whether it's "Zibo Barbecue" or "Harbin" tourism, short videos have played the role of "fuse" and "booster" in their dissemination. A survey by the Tourism Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences shows that online channels have dominated in terms of obtaining tourism information. Among various channels, short video platforms and online community platforms rank first and second. It is worth noting that not only do tourists primarily rely on the internet to obtain information, but the entire tourism consumption market also exhibits internet characteristics: user-generated content driven, traffic is king, topic marketing, "viral spread," which rapidly makes destinations topic and traffic centers, even forming the so-called "media pilgrimage," i.e., "traveling to important locations in media narratives." With online dissemination as the medium, the government, locals, external users, short video platforms, etc., collectively form a multi-nested and smoothly operating content production and dissemination chain.

Fifth, strong government guarantees are key to tourist satisfaction. Tourist consumption at a destination involves many stages, and local governments, as providers of public services and maintainers of the consumption environment, play an irreplaceable and important role. From Zibo's "barbecue special train," bus lines, "barbecue map," and "barbecue escort action," to Harbin's crackdown on taxi overcharging, extended operating hours for airport buses and subways, "new additions" like artificial moons and Songhua River hovercraft, and setting up cold protection facilities on the road, all reflect the government's active efforts. These local governments promptly established a comprehensive tourism public service system, reaching from top to bottom and across all sectors, ensuring smooth and comfortable experiences for tourists at every stage of their consumption.

Sixth, the warm and loving residents are an important factor in tourist satisfaction. In Zibo, local car owners consciously yielded to vehicles from out of town, merchants spontaneously provided free accommodation, and local drivers offered free shuttle services to out-of-town tourists during holidays. These good deeds greatly enhanced Zibo's reputation and attractiveness. The popularity of "Harbin" tourism is also inseparable from the countless warm and hospitable "Harbin people." The strong sense of ownership among local residents has maintained and enhanced the city's image.

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

Firstly, a shift in the logic of tourism development. With changes in the economic and social environment and the leap in the development stage of tourism itself, the foundation, purpose, methods, and logic of tourism development have undergone certain changes. Past tourism development was supply-oriented, i.e., "providing whatever we have," while it is increasingly becoming demand-oriented, i.e., "providing what tourists need." The supply-oriented development sequence is from resource surveys, industrial planning, hardware construction to product design, activity planning, and marketing promotion; the demand-oriented approach 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 the cultural resources left by our ancestors and the 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, a shift in the logic of tourism demand. From the perspective of demand, tourists' tourism needs are becoming more differentiated, personalized, and diversified. The needs of different consumer groups are showing a trend of differentiation, with "Generation Z," family tourism, women's tourism, and senior tourism having different needs and focusing on different projects. The demand for niche tourism destinations and customized tourism products is becoming more prominent. Little-known small counties, small scenic spots, and niche activities may all receive 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 becoming more common. This places higher demands on destination management, requiring "moderate mixing" and "necessary separation" in the use of activity spaces and public facilities between foreign tourists and local residents; there needs to be a certain degree of mixing, but also necessary separation.

Tourists taking travel photos in Yanji | Photo by Guan Yuting

Thirdly, a shift in the logic of tourism investment. Previously, influenced by the dividends of urbanization and real estate development, tourism investment mostly relied on large-scale projects, with some projects achieving returns through the "tourism + real estate" development model. Currently, the boom in large-scale tourism investment is gradually subsiding, with small-scale investments or "small but beautiful" boutique projects 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, a shift in the logic of tourism marketing. 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 experience traditional attractions. 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's image itself), then currently it must also rely on "other-shaping" (i.e., the internet and tourists shaping the destination's 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 convert online popularity into tourism revenue is becoming extremely important.

Fifthly, a shift in the form of the tourism industry. 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 evident, with the integration of culture, sports, tourism, business, agriculture, health, and education, and the trend of tourism + all industries or all industries + tourism becoming increasingly obvious; on the other hand, the independent development of tourism elements is also apparent. Each element in the original "eating, lodging, travel, shopping, entertainment" combined business model may develop independently. For example, themed hotels, boutique hotels, homestays, resorts, campsites, and scenic routes are the result of the independent development of the "lodging" element, while 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 spectrum of business models in between is becoming more complex and diverse.

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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 both the perspective of media dissemination and tourism development, it is impossible for there to be internet celebrities that last forever, nor is it possible for every place to become an internet celebrity. While a temporary boom can enhance the destination's popularity, it may also lead to a "broken filter" or be "backlashed" by the media, and the long-term sustainable development of a destination cannot rely on short-term "online frenzy."

For internet celebrity cities, it is necessary to rationally recognize that the focus of media dissemination can 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 appeal; on the other hand, it is even more 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 neglecting the improvement of internal capabilities; nor should they lose their own cultural characteristics in order to achieve a temporary boom by blindly imitating others. From a more general and long-term perspective, while tourism is indeed a form of attention economy, 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.