As the summer of 2026 unfolds, travelers are noticing that popular scenic spots and major tourist cities are no longer as crowded as before. The question on everyone's lips in the travel industry is: where have all the tourists gone?
Meanwhile, in a wave of small county towns, parents from first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen are showing up with their kids in tow. These families are opting for destinations within a four-hour drive, which boast upscale hotels or boutique guesthouses, family rooms, swimming pools, and ideally, children's daycare services. The surroundings are scenic, peaceful, and far from the madding crowd. What they deliberately avoid are the internet-famous counties and packed tourist attractions. It's not that no one is traveling this summer; it's simply that people have chosen different paths. The logic behind summer family vacations has fundamentally changed.
Forgoing International Trips in Favor of County Escapes: "No Need to Think When You Walk the Streets"
An elderly woman holding a giant frog larger than a bullfrog in her hands drew gasps of amazement from Meimei's six-year-old daughter. "Come, touch it, it's free!" This summer, Meimei, a Shanghai mom, skipped an overseas trip for her child and instead returned to her hometown in Kunming, spending a week in Lancang County under Pu'er City. The mother and daughter duo slept in every day, strolled through the streets, browsed the border market, picked tea leaves in ancient plantations, and chatted with villagers while learning to make rice cakes and grill meat. "It's so chill, the kind of relaxed where you don't have to think when you walk the street," Meimei said. With barely a tourist in sight, there was no concept of queuing. The scenery was stunning, the climate pleasant, and the cost of living low. For city kids, everything felt fresh and exciting. "It's grounded, full of ethnic culture, intangible heritage, and nature. Isn't this better than going abroad?"
This summer, taking the kids to obscure counties, the smaller and more niche the better, has become a secret code among parents from first-tier cities. Behind this "kindred spirit" lies a brand-new philosophy of family vacations: no more competing to "see the world" because they've already seen it; no more rushing to attractions or chasing big "IPs" because the experience is poor. What they truly value is the relaxed, authentic, and natural atmosphere a county can offer, and the chance to nurture parent-child bonds in a stress-free environment.
Data from Qunar Travel shows that during the summer of 2026, hotel bookings on the platform spanned over 1,000 counties, with bookings for families staying three or more nights up 20% year-on-year. Of those booking county hotels, 70% were tourists from other provinces, with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Chongqing leading as the top source cities. Note: The statistics include counties and county-level cities. Dali, Yining, and Kashgar are county-level cities, under the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, and Kashgar Prefecture respectively.
Post-80s Parents Willing to Pay 526 Yuan a Night for High-End Stays in Counties
The only significant expense for Meimei's county trip was the hotel. In recent years, Lancang has developed multiple holiday hotels and high-quality guesthouses, a major reason she chose this destination. "We still want to stay somewhere nice; we're on vacation, not roughing it," she explained. A month in advance, she booked a family room at a holiday hotel for over 1,000 yuan a night, including breakfast and afternoon tea for two. The hotel featured a swimming pool for her daughter to burn off energy, a kids' club with childcare services, and organized study tours like hiking and handicraft workshops. Meimei also found time for yoga, reading with a cup of tea, or simply enjoying some quiet solitude.
Is it worth paying such high prices for a hotel in a county? Meimei did the math: transportation to Lancang, via plane and train, cost nearly 3,000 yuan for the round trip for the mother and daughter; the hotel bill came to over 8,000 yuan. However, local living costs were low, and there were almost no other expenses. The total trip cost was still significantly cheaper than an international vacation. "The key is the high quality of the food and accommodation. Abroad or in a first-tier city, a hotel of this standard would cost more than double," she noted. This summer, hotels and guesthouses in many counties have become pricier than those in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, yet parents from these cities are still willing to pay. Qunar data reveals that during the summer, bookings for four-star and above hotels in counties grew by double digits year-on-year, with high-end hotels accounting for 23% of all county hotel bookings. Post-80s parents are the biggest spenders, with an average payment of 526 yuan per night for county accommodations. Family rooms are in particularly high demand, and the average booking lead time for county hotels has extended from 5.9 days to 7.1 days.
The Anti-Traffic Logic Behind the "County Rush": Middle-Class Families Favor Places "Not Yet Famous"
In recent years, the "county rush" has become a new trend, turning many counties into fleeting internet sensations. Taijiang County in Guizhou gained fame from its "Village BA" basketball tournament, Zibo rose to prominence with its barbecue, and Tianshui in the northwest went viral over its spicy hot pot. County tourism boards across the country are all studying "how to ride the wave of internet traffic," with the tags of the county rush being cheap, lively, and trendy. But this summer's wave of middle-class family county trips reveals a completely different logic. "Since my hometown is in Yunnan, I specifically asked friends back home where I should go that isn't yet popular but is still worth visiting," Meimei said. Many of her friends follow the same principle: choose a place with a good local reputation that hasn't yet blown up online.
Qunar data shows that the counties with the fastest growth in hotel bookings this summer are all relatively "off the beaten path." For example, Chayu County in Tibet saw hotel bookings more than double year-on-year, while Jiali in Tibet, Qianshan in Jiangxi, Zhenfeng in Guizhou, Tian'e in Guangxi, and Wuqiao in Hebei all experienced 1.5-fold increases. Additionally, Huixian in Henan, Xingyi in Guizhou, Zhaojue in Sichuan, and Cengong in Guizhou saw growth of over 100%. These destinations share common traits: convenient transportation, mature hotel offerings, and beautiful scenery with plenty to do. The earliest beneficiaries of this middle-class family wave are the well-regarded counties near first-tier cities. Qunar data indicates that the counties with the highest average hotel prices this summer are mostly within a four-hour drive of Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. For instance, Changli County in Hebei, near Beijing and home to the mature Aranya resort, had an average nightly rate of 835 yuan; Luanping County, with its Jinshanling Great Wall, averaged over 750 yuan per night, both far exceeding prices in Beijing. Anji and Deqing in Zhejiang, near Shanghai, are already long-popular hubs for high-end guesthouses, with average nightly rates exceeding 600 yuan this summer. Near Guangzhou, Fogang and Longmen counties, leveraging their hot springs and mountain scenery, cater to family summer escapes from the Greater Bay Area. Fogang County topped the charts with an average nightly rate of 870 yuan, the most expensive of any county in the country.
What Pain Points Remain for County Tourism as Middle-Class Families Flock In?
Convenient transportation, high-quality accommodations, mature family-friendly products, authentic yet engaging experiences, low tourist density, and high comfort levels—middle-class families clearly have higher demands for county tourism than before. "Transport and lodging in counties have definitely improved a lot, lowering the physical barriers and allowing us to venture into counties in Yunnan, Guizhou, Xinjiang, and Tibet. But the main bottleneck is overall itinerary planning and access to local information, which still have room for improvement," Meimei said. For example, her summer trip involved flying from Shanghai to Kunming, taking a train to Pu'er, and then a car to Lancang County—quite a hassle to arrange on her own. The markets in Lancang aren't held daily, and with so many tea plantations and ancient villages, choosing where to go requires a lot of homework. "The hardware for county tourism has improved greatly, but the software in many places still lags behind," said Xiao Ou, who operates guesthouses across several locations in Guizhou. He cited examples: guesthouses want to offer childcare services but lack mature local providers for day-study programs; businesses operate in silos, with poor information flow between hotels, restaurants, attractions, and villages; and guesthouses struggle to bridge the "last few dozen kilometers" from prefecture-level airports and stations to the counties due to licensing, staffing, and liability issues. Furthermore, online information about counties is highly polarized, with a shortage of practical, family-oriented details. "For instance, is it suitable for young children? Is it feasible to push a stroller on mountain roads? Are there emergency medical points? What can you do on rainy days? A wealth of real, honest, and practical information is missing online," he added. Additionally, tourist numbers in counties are highly unstable, with pronounced off-peak seasons. During slow periods, visitor numbers plummet, and many food and service businesses shut down entirely, failing to establish a stable, year-round service system. This "seasonal" model directly undermines service quality.
"Platforms can play a huge role in county tourism development. It's not just about selling flights and hotels; it's about being a 'connector' for county vacations," said Ren Fen, Party Secretary and Vice President of Qunar Travel. This year, Qunar launched its "Treasure Hundred Counties" strategy, empowering county tourism through transport connections, information filtering, local resource integration, and off-season product development to drive demand. The goal is to piece together the fragmented county tourism resources, linking scattered "points" into mature "routes." Qunar data shows that this summer, search interest for "Treasure Hundred Counties" related products surged 226% year-on-year. Taking Xingyi in Guizhou, whose popularity jumped to second place nationwide this year, as an example, bookings for its "peak forest + canyon" itineraries have doubled.