"A lot of people during their first visit tend to do the classics. Then, when they come back, they tend to do something a bit more unique," Zhou says.

Salon participants agreed that social media is another driver pushing globetrotters farther off the beaten path.

"China is not a one-time experience," Su Nuoyi says.

"I think that's like the kind of beauty, that because you've been there once and you've seen the mainstream cities, then you keep checking stuff through the magic of social media. And then you want to go back because there are a lot more things to experience in China. There's this kind of thing to explore the unexplored."