As the Dragon Boat Festival approaches, holiday travel trends released by Ctrip show that domestic nearby travel bookings have increased by 20% year-on-year. With 'county-level tourism' booming, travel destinations are no longer confined to popular cities.

"Where to go?" — this is a topic many tourists care about, and also an arena where cities compete. In the era of social media, it seems every city has a chance to become famous overnight. According to incomplete statistics from the Southern Weekly City (Regional) Research Center, since 2017, at least 52 prefecture-level cities have experienced 'trending-level' viral events, accounting for nearly 20% of the nearly 300 similar cities nationwide.

For a city to gain a chance at fame, it often needs a key to trigger tourists' urge to buy tickets. In recent years, the 'selling points' of city image promotion have quietly changed: increasingly, the focus has shifted from cityscapes centered on 'what I have' to city life centered on 'what you gain.'

It's like inviting guests to your home — good food and drink are the foundation, but having fun is the key. The main purpose of city image promotion is still to enhance the city's reputation in the minds of the audience and thereby generate consumption and other follow-up behaviors.

In the past, cities mostly organized their unique landscapes and abundant products to extend invitations; now they focus more on using tourist experiences and residents' daily lives as slices to attract 'kindred spirits.' This change is driven not only by social media, especially short-video platforms, but more notably by a shift from government-directed solo efforts to government-led encouragement of broader participation.

Specifically, what approaches can be drawn upon?

See the big picture through small details; avoid preaching. Getting to know Shanghai through Citywalk, 'rushing to Zibo for barbecue,' and 'Village Super League' attracting visitors... What appeals to today's young people is often no longer painstakingly produced 'city promotional films,' but an experience, a way of playing, or even a song or a photo. Although there may be an element of following the trend, it also reflects the audience's indifference to 'grand narratives' in city image promotion. In fact, many third- and fourth-tier cities are not short of tourism resources. If they always stay in the 'what I have' perspective and list a large number of cultural elements, it is often difficult for unfamiliar tourists to empathize. Travel, whether long or short, is essentially about relaxation; if it can also be combined with learning, it is undoubtedly twice as effective.

Find the pain points; highlight the contrast. The phrase 'The Northeast also has a sea' broke many netizens' conventional thinking, and the popularity of Dongwu Street in Dalian Port let more people understand the charm of China's northernmost coastline. Today, when 'everyone has a microphone,' information cocoons are more easily broken, and this sense of contrast is often what brings more freshness and excitement. The opening of high-speed rail has greatly facilitated commuting between cities, and many people from big cities choose to travel to smaller cities with fewer crowds during holidays. For Beijing tourists, nearby ancient city Datong, coastal Qinhuangdao, and grassland Ulanqab have all been dubbed 'treasure cities.' For them, the greatest sense of contrast often starts with taking a taxi from the station. "A single-digit starting fare — for the same price I can wander all over the city," one tourist said. They just want to find experiences different from Beijing — fewer people, beautiful scenery, and high cost-effectiveness. Why not?

Show genuine emotion; evoke resonance. 'The auntie in Nanjing selling 10-yuan pour-over coffee goes viral' and 'the diving grandpas of Tianjin' let bewildered netizens truly understand what 'emotional value' means. "It's not that the coffee is so different, but the auntie's genuine business spirit and cheerful attitude toward life that attracted me," a netizen commented. As short videos penetrate deeper into lower-tier markets and urbanization drives population mobility, the communication network formed jointly by 'onlookers,' wanderers, and locals is becoming the main force in city image communication. Audiences care about and look forward more to new changes and phenomena in the cities they follow. The 'Harbin phenomenon' shows that when residents participate and form a community with the city itself, city image promotion is no longer one-dimensional marketing but truly becomes part of each city's life. A city's charm sometimes cannot be bought with money; it grows from residents' daily lives.

Since 1999's 'Weihai China' — **the first city image TV commercial — more than 20 years have passed, and China's city image promotion has changed significantly. This is not only a product of rapid urbanization, the prosperity of the cultural tourism market, and accelerated opening-up, but also reflects changes in how decision-makers and participants think about city image promotion.

A city is like a person: from logo to image, from spirit to culture, it is a process of accumulation from nothing to something and then from something to excellence. Whether 'what I have' or 'what you gain,' both are indispensable elements of city image. But the current trend increasingly reminds decision-makers to always keep the audience in mind — perhaps only then can 'internet-famous' become 'ever-famous.'