Moving past the old label of being a cheap alternative, county-level tourism is undergoing a significant spending upgrade during the summer of 2026. Middle-class families hailing from first and second-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu are emerging as the primary consumer force in this sector. Data released by Qunar Travel on August 20th shows that hotel and homestay bookings for the summer of 2026 covered over a thousand counties nationwide, with orders for stays exceeding three nights growing by 20% year-on-year. Hotel bookings in destinations such as Xingyi in Guizhou and Qianshan in Jiangxi have doubled. Orders for four-star and above high-end hotels in counties saw double-digit growth, with their share of total county hotel bookings reaching 23%, meaning roughly one in every five orders was for a premium hotel.

According to Qunar's data, the top ten most popular county-level destinations for the summer include Dali in Yunnan, Xingyi in Guizhou, Yining in Xinjiang, Jinghong in Yunnan, Shangri-La in Yunnan, Dunhuang in Gansu, Kashgar in Xinjiang, Pingtan in Fujian, Yangshuo in Guangxi, and Yanji in Jilin. Average spending on county hotels has increased across all age groups, with the post-80s generation proving to be the most generous, spending an average of 526 yuan on summer hotel and homestay bookings.

Notably, some counties are now outperforming major metropolises in terms of tourism revenue generation. For instance, Fusong in Jilin, home to the famous Changbai Mountain 5A scenic area, has fewer than one-tenth of the hotels found in first-tier cities, yet its average summer hotel payment price reached 679 yuan, surpassing that of cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Counties surrounding Beijing, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Greater Bay Area are also showing strong earning power. Changli in Hebei, near Beijing, leverages its coastal advantages and the mature Aranya resort community to command an average summer hotel price of 835 yuan. Anji and Deqing in Zhejiang attract visitors from Shanghai and Hangzhou with resilient summer pricing, while Fogang near Guangzhou is a popular summer destination for families from the Greater Bay Area seeking water activities and cool weather, with average hotel prices hitting 870 yuan.

Song Xiangqing, Vice President of the China Society of Commercial Economics and founder of Huadeng Bang, noted that the price premium of county hotels over first-tier cities reflects a shift in the consumption structure of lower-tier markets from a past focus on low prices and basic needs to quality vacation spending. Urban middle-class groups are becoming the main drivers of high-end consumption in counties, willing to pay a premium for scarce ecological resources and immersive vacation experiences. From a supply and demand perspective, first-tier cities have ample hotel supply and intense competition, while high-quality tourist counties have a shortage of high-end resort hotels. The concentrated release of demand during peak seasons creates supply rigidity and a mismatch, driving up accommodation prices. Meanwhile, chain high-end hotels are accelerating their expansion into counties, filling the gap in quality supply and unlocking previously suppressed high-end consumption potential. However, this premium is largely concentrated during summer holidays and other peak periods, with prices returning to more reasonable levels on regular days, indicating that the county-level consumption upgrade is still episodic and structural, not yet fully normalized.

County tourism has continued to boom this year. A report released by the China Tourism Association on August 11th highlighted that despite a slowdown in overall domestic tourism growth, county tourism became a key growth driver in the first half of 2026. The popularity of "treasure towns" and "county-hopping trips" has continued to rise, with cross-regional consumption in counties growing by 14.1% year-on-year. From a macroeconomic perspective, counties have become a critical incremental market for boosting domestic consumption.

On August 18th, nine government departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, jointly issued opinions on further stimulating the vitality of lower-tier markets and county consumption, proposing 18 specific measures covering business environment optimization, consumption supply enrichment, and factor support. In terms of promoting integrated development of commerce, agriculture, culture, tourism, and sports, the document supports extending consumption chains through performances and event tickets, upgrading nighttime cultural and tourism consumption, and creating rural tourism destinations with distinct cultural characteristics. It also encourages the development of unique consumption scenarios like "wellness plus", "cultural tourism plus", "agriculture plus", "folklore plus", and "historical classics plus", and supports adjacent counties in creating cross-regional classic consumption routes to attract more urban residents to spend in rural areas. Previous central policies, such as the three-year action plan for county-level commerce and plans to accelerate the cultivation of new growth points in service consumption, have also continuously pushed for improvements in county commercial and tourism infrastructure, laying the hardware foundation for the county tourism boom.

Middle-class parents from first-tier and new first-tier cities are the main force behind summer county tourism. Qunar data shows the top ten source cities for county hotel bookings are Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Hangzhou, Kunming, and Wuhan. Yang Han, a researcher at the Qunar Travel Big Data Research Institute, analyzed that urban middle-class parents are now more willing to spend money in counties, partly due to an upgraded travel philosophy. More families are seeking relaxed, safe, and uncrowded places to truly unwind and engage with their children. Additionally, the "quality-price ratio" of high-quality accommodation in counties remains better than in first-tier cities. The scarcity of staying directly within scenic areas and the unique local experiences and services offered make it a more worthwhile choice for big-city consumers.

Song Xiangqing emphasized that against the backdrop of expanding domestic demand, the consumption upgrade driven by "county-hopping trips" has become an important lever for activating the lower-tier market. Incoming tourists bring incremental consumption, driving growth across county-level accommodation, dining, and agricultural retail sectors, connecting urban and rural consumption cycles, and unlocking the vast potential of county-level domestic demand. The cultural tourism industry has a low employment threshold and a long industrial chain, capable of absorbing local residents and returning workers for nearby employment and entrepreneurship, thereby broadening income channels for rural residents. From the perspective of urban-rural coordination, cultural tourism converts county ecological and cultural resources into economic gains, channels urban consumption capital towards counties, narrows the income and development gap between urban and rural areas, and supports integrated urban-rural development through a green and low-carbon path, making it an important pillar for achieving shared prosperity.

However, as more counties become internet-famous destinations, the risk of homogenization looms. Song Xiangqing cautioned that the long-term competitiveness of county tourism lies not in replicating internet-famous scenes or man-made attractions, but in leveraging unique local natural endowments, regional culture, authentic local life, and a relaxed lifestyle experience—these are resources that are difficult to copy. To overcome homogenization and achieve sustainable development, regions should base their plans on their own resource advantages, avoid blindly copying ancient town or night market development models, deeply explore intangible cultural heritage and local specialty products to create exclusive cultural tourism IPs, promote deep integration of cultural tourism with agriculture, wellness, and outdoor sports, enrich offerings across all four seasons, and mitigate the imbalance between peak and off-peak seasons. Governments should strengthen top-level planning, improve supporting infrastructure, introduce professional market-oriented operations teams, and balance online traffic with long-term public welfare, transitioning from short-term internet fame to a long-lasting, high-quality cultural tourism destination that benefits both locals and visitors.