Tourists’ value perception mechanisms in heritage night tourism
Insights from Chinese garden heritage
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24238574 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zhenzhen Guo (0000-0002-1721-908X, Tongji University), Wenhui Luo (Tongji University), Zhu Chen (0000-0002-9974-0716, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University), Hongjun Zhou (Tongji University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-26 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-17 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1476-6825 • E-ISSN: 1747-7654 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14766825.2026.2748971 |
| OpenAlex | W7222845789 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
Heritage night tourism, as a form of cultural performance, is reconfiguring the relationship between visitors and heritage, yet how nocturnal experiences reshape tourists’ value perception and heritage identity remains insufficiently understood. Existing studies concentrate largely on management and marketing concerns such as satisfaction and loyalty, while overlooking the mechanisms of value construction and identity formation. Using a grounded theory approach, this study compares online reviews from day and night tours of a Chinese gardenWorld Heritage site and interprets the results through a Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) lens. The findings reveal that night-time stimuli (S)—including environmental characteristics, nightscape creation, and artistic performances—activate tourists’ psychological processes (O), generating yijing perception (artistic conception perception), a culturally embedded aesthetic mediator. This perception deepens visitors’ cognition of cultural, artistic, and social values andenhances their local identity (R). By identifying yijing perception as a mediating mechanism between sensory stimulus and value cognition, this study advances a novel model of how cultural meaning is co-created and identity reinforced through performative tourism, contributing to a deeper understanding of the relationship between tourism and cultural change.
artistic conception · heritage identity · nightscapes · online reviews · stimulus-organism-response model · UNESCO World Heritage · Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation · Diverse Aspects of Tourism Research · Night-time city culture
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Servicescapes
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The Measurement of Observer Agreement for Categorical Data
Motivation and Involvement as Antecedents of the Perceived Value of the Destination Experience
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All that's best of dark and bright”
Experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intentions for heritage tourists
Authenticity and commoditization in tourism
Elaborating on grounded theory in tourism research
Interpreting war heritage
Discursive constructions of night sky experiences
Exploring Consumer Behavior in Virtual Reality Tourism Using an Extended Stimulus-Organism-Response Model
Rethinking authenticity in tourism experience
Staged Authenticity
| Highly cited | No |
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