Chongqing Shows the Pitfalls and Opportunities of a Social Media-Fueled Tourism Boom

"Chongqing was cool, but after seeing all the social media posts about the city...something was just missing for me." The German guy I met at the hostel in Chengdu had this to say when I inquired about his impression of my next destination. Seeing the ambivalence on his face was a bit worrying. After all, like him and millions of others, I was drawn to visit the city because of viral online content. Youtubers gave the city monikers of the Cyberpunk City while vlogging about its dazzling nighttime views and mindblowing mountainside construction. 

Influencers exaggerate for a piece of the increasingly hard-to-get commodity: the attention of the brainrot generation. Chongqing seems to fit the bill a bit too well. The visual impact it provides is almost designed for the age of Instagram-friendly tourism: heavy on sights, light on cultural substance. When the German guy elaborated on his love for the film industry and pulsating nightlife back home, I knew what the "something" he failed to find in Chongqing was the possibility of connecting with how locals live beyond the bright lights and tourists' cameras. 

To them, the urban jungle is the platform for raising a family, developing a career, and fulfilling personal aspirations, but a tourism message about what the city looks like suppresses the cultural identity beyond what's visually appealing, making the citizens' lives invisible. A vicious cycle ensues, as those seeking cultural understanding head elsewhere, leaving the city more desperate to capture the crowds interested in confirming what they saw on social media. And for that purpose, I found Chongqing successful. It's still building ever more new "old streets," each more picturesque.

But as I snapped more pictures, I found myself asking whether I'd return to the city a second time. After all, more photo spots can come into existence, but the city only has so much space it can build. Each new spot for picture-taking cannot change the overall vibe of the city that's already so crowded and set in place. A new building here and there is not enticing enough to bring back the tourists who have already seen it a few years ago. Repeat customers will eventually need that "something" that defines the cultural heart of the city.

It isn't easy, especially for a city like Chongqing that remains little known among the non-Chinese beyond social media. The city is trying by tapping into the culinary tradition of hotpots, roadside noodles, and spicy everything. It's turning the mountainside from a locale into a way of life by getting people to look beyond the city into the surrounding nature of hardy villagers and monastic Buddhists making a life alongside vibrant cliffs. But when the first impression is so entrenched by social media, people won't be able to help tweak those experiences into something visually impactful, too.

The city has new museums and art exhibition centers by the dozen. Many are visually stunning, but what to fill on the inside remains to be seen. Whatever they may be, would true lovers of high culture pick Chongqing for a few days' visit when there are so many other cities around the world already well-established for their schedule of artistic events? Learning to jostle with the crowds snapping pictures of the cyberpunk view does not really square that well with the concept of high culture. Neither is learning to use a squat toilet in the most modern public bathrooms. 

So Chongqing will struggle to attract repeat customers, especially the high-spending, high-cultured kind. But does that make the city's current tourism boom unsustainable? Perhaps not, if it doubles down on what it does well. After all, there are hundreds of millions of young people who have seen Chongqing's stunning cityscape, even within a few hours' flight time from the city. Many would like to see them in person. And like me, after seeing them for real, they'd say that the views are indeed worth seeing physically once in a lifetime and recommend others to visit.

Just keeping a steady stream of first-time visitors would keep Chongqing busy enough. The key to making mass tourism affordable for many more. The city already has some seriously affordable eats, public transport, and good lodging options, even in the city center. Next up is getting more cheap direct flights, visa-free entry options for people from more countries in Southeast Asia, and most importantly, making it easier for people to navigate the city, with the use of AI-enhanced translation software and information portals on how to use China's digital infrastructure, like QR code-based payments and ride-hailing. If social media-friendly is what they want, why not just double down on it?