Strolling through ancient cities, picking mushrooms, and eating sweet bamboo shoots... Recently, small towns have become popular, driving the emergence of "county town tourism". Tourists who pursue the beauty, relaxation, and unique experiences of small towns are beginning to immerse themselves in the cultural and tourism charm of the county town. According to the "2024 Youth County Travel Report" recently released by Meituan, Dali, Pingtan, Rongcheng, Dunhuang, and Yanji are the most popular counties for young people to visit this summer. "Digital nomads" and "travel" have become popular search keywords among young people, and the search volume of "Digital Wanderer Commune" on Dianping has increased 17 times compared to last year. At present, the consumption in counties in China is showing a fast growth rate and great potential. With the improvement of domestic transportation infrastructure and other "hard connectivity", counties within three hours of Beijing, Shanghai, and the Greater Bay Area are entering their best development period. Ying County and Guyang County around Beijing, Jing County and Xiuning County around Shanghai, as well as Xiangtan County and Pingnan County around the Greater Bay Area, have become good destinations for young people's "geographical arbitrage". The rise of the "Ben County" craze not only benefits from the rapid development of infrastructure construction in county towns, but is also closely related to the development of new business models in county towns. As county consumption begins to upgrade towards quality, racing, archery, as well as outdoor camping and hiking, are no longer exclusive to first and second tier young people, but have also begun to appear on the social media of county youth. The report shows that niche sports are becoming more popular, and young people in small towns love to purchase niche sports experience classes. In the first half of this year, the growth rate of orders related to "equestrian classes" nationwide increased by 74.8% year-on-year, and the order volume related to "tennis" increased by 128.7% year-on-year. In addition, orders for new and unique experiences in some county towns, such as hiking in fern forests, collecting wild mushrooms in Cangshan, and dyeing by streams, have seen rapid growth. The pursuit of high cost-effectiveness and spiritual experience by tourists has continued to make county tourism popular. County towns with differentiated resource endowments and regional characteristics attract more tourists through various new consumption scenarios. At the same time, the popularity of "county tourism" has also driven the growth of consumption such as eating, drinking, sightseeing, entertainment, and shopping in the county. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the proportion of retail sales of consumer goods in counties and townships to the total retail sales of consumer goods in the first half of this year increased by 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year. (New Society)