Foreign Policy Analysis of Digital Cultural Tourism: The Impact Mechanism of Interactive Projects on Cultural Identity of Tourism Consumers
Li Sen Wu
Foreign College of Guizhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine，Guiyang 550000，Guizhou, China
Mail：LiSenWu2026@outlook.com
Abstract: This study focuses on interactive projects in the digital culture and tourism, and explores their inherent impact mechanism on the cultural identity and consumption behavior of tourism consumers. By integrating embodied cognition theory and narrative transmission theory, a theoretical model is constructed with interactive projects as the starting point and aesthetic experience and cultural identity as the mediator. The study uses an interactive project in a museum in Jinan City as an empirical case, uses a questionnaire survey method to collect 426 pieces of valid data, and uses structural equation modeling and Bootstrap methods for testing. The results show that interactive projects can significantly and positively affect consumers’ aesthetic experience. Aesthetic experience not only directly and positively affects cultural identity, but also indirectly affects revisit intention through the partial mediation role of cultural identity. Cultural identity has direct active impacts on revisit intention. The study proposes a systematic experience enhancement strategy from the perspectives of deepening immersive narrative, building personalized services, and promoting cross-border integration, providing theoretical basis and management inspiration for the practical innovation and sustainable development of the digital cultural tourism industry.
Keywords: Digital cultural tourism; Interactive projects; Consumers; Cultural identity; Experience
Introduction
Driven by global cultural industry and digital technology, digital cultural tourism has become an important engine to activate cultural heritage, innovate experiences and enhance cultural confidence [1]. Interactive projects represented by augmented reality, virtual reality, holographic projection, etc., have greatly enriched the cultural connotation and expression of traditional tourism by building an immersive and participatory virtual environment [2]. However, while current practice pursues technological novelty, it also generally faces problems such as insufficient exploration of cultural connotations, homogeneous experience, and weak user stickiness. Its in-depth cultural communication effectiveness and long-term market value need to be scientifically verified [3]. Existing research has focused on the impact of technological characteristics on tourist satisfaction or behavioral intentions. However, there is a lack of systematic analysis from the complete path of consumer psychological cognition on how interactive projects shape aesthetic experiences, internalize them into stable cultural identities, and ultimately drive complex mechanisms of sustained behavior [4]. Therefore, this study systematically explores the impact mechanism of interactive projects in digital cultural tourism on tourism consumers’ cultural identity and revisit intention. The innovation of the research lies in clarifying the transmission logic of “technological experience-aesthetic perception-cultural identity-behavioral intention”, and revealing the chain mediation effect of aesthetic experience and cultural identity in it. The research is to provide precise strategic guidance for the interactive design of digital cultural tourism managers and cultural institutions, thereby strengthening consumers’ sense of cultural identity and belonging.
1.Theories and Hypotheses
Classical cognitive psychology believes that cognitive behavior is purely mental activity and has nothing to do with body movements. However, modern embodied cognition theory believes that cognitive behavior is not only mental activities, but also affected by body movements and environmental effects. Embodied interaction theory has gradually developed in the embodied cognition theory. This theory believes that people have a tendency to use their bodies as interactive media, thereby using body movements and postures to convey experiences and emotions [5]. In scenarios such as digital cultural tourism, due to the embodied interactive cognition, human-computer interaction often breaks through the value of technical construction and is closely connected with the life experience, emotions and cognitive processes of interactive users. Therefore, the interaction between technology and physical senses affects users’ overall experience and meaning construction of technology.
In the development process of the modern digital cultural tourism industry, various technologies such as multimedia, three-dimensional modeling, digital technology, intelligent interaction, and sensing are gradually used in human-computer interaction scenarios. Narrative transmission theory believes that excellent narrative and distinctive content transmission in digital cultural tourism can affect consumers’ psychological experience and behavioral intentions [6]. Cultural identity requires consumers to have a distinct memory point for cultural projects. Meanwhile, the cultural projects themselves need to satisfy consumers’ sense of immersion, pleasure, and accomplishment. Only when consumers gain a good experience in cultural projects can they internalize cultural beliefs into their own expression, thus generating cultural identity psychology [7]. Interactive projects in the digital cultural tourism industry can create virtual scenes with a strong sense of reality during use, bringing rich travel experiences to tourists. However, in the current application process of human-computer interaction technology, there are also problems in which cultural value is ignored, cultural presentation content is not attractive enough, and content is homogeneous [8]. Therefore, based on the above theoretical research, four hypotheses are put forward:
H1: Interactive projects have active impacts on consumers’ aesthetic experience.
H2: Aesthetic experience positively affects consumers’ cultural identity.
H3: Aesthetic experience positively affects consumers’ willingness to revisit.
H4: Cultural identity positively affects consumers’ willingness to revisit.
2.Research method
2.1 Cases and investigation subjects
To explore the impact mechanism of interactive projects on tourism consumers’ aesthetic experience and cultural identity, this study took the interactive experience project of a museum in Jinan City as a case study to conduct an investigation. This interactive project uses multimedia digital interactive technologies such as augmented reality, real-time positioning, tactile sensing, and holographic projection. It takes traditional Chinese artworks as the core and displays the aesthetic conception of traditional Chinese art with a rich visual experience [9]. Through on-site distribution, the study will distribute questionnaires to tourists participating in the interactive project from August 1, 2025 to August 20, 2025. 484 questionnaires were given out, and 426 of them were recovered, with the recovery rate of 88.02%.
2.2 Questionnaire design
Based on the results of Pratisto E H et al., this study selected four items related to the interactivity of interactive projects to form the interactivity evaluation scale of the project. This scale is used to explore the experience, information speed, etc. gained by consumers during their participation in interactive projects. The scale adopts a 7-point scoring method, from 1 to 7 [10]. The specific scale information is presented in Table 1.
Table.1 Main research scales and topic information
| Variable | Question number | Item |
| Interactive Evaluation Scale for Projects (A) | A1 | When using a project, my behavior determines the experience I gain. |
| A2 | The project equipment handles my interaction actions very quickly. | |
| A3 | I can easily obtain the information I want. | |
| A4 | When I participate in human-computer interaction, I feel like I receive instant feedback. | |
| Aesthetic Experience Scale (B) | B1 | Participating in the human-computer interaction project of the digital museum has given me great pleasure. |
| B2 | Participating in the human-computer interaction project of the digital museum made me feel relaxed. | |
| B3 | Interactive projects bring traditional art to life and liveliness. | |
| B4 | The digital museum has elevated my spirit. | |
| B5 | Participating in interactive projects gives me a sense of novelty in experiencing new technologies. | |
| Cultural Identity Scale (C) | C1 | I think ancient culture is profound and extensive. |
| C2 | I think ancient culture has high contemporary value. | |
| C3 | I think ancient culture has important enlightening significance for me. | |
| C4 | I think ancient culture should be protected and promoted. | |
| Return Intention Scale (D) | D1 | Overall, I am very satisfied with this trip. |
| D2 | I will visit the digital museum again in the future. | |
| D3 | I will continue to visit digital museums in the future. |
Depending on the results of Yang X et al., the research designs a cultural identity scale related to traditional art and culture to assess consumers’ cultural identity psychology after participating in interactive projects [11]. This scale contains four items and mainly assesses consumers’ recognition of the value and significance of cultural projects. The scale also uses a 7-point scoring method. The scale goes from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). In addition, the study designs an aesthetic experience scale and a revisit intention scale based on the cultural aesthetic experience of interactive projects and the behavioral intention to visit again. The two scales contain five questions and three questions, respectively. All are scored using a 7-point scoring method. The scale runs from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).
2.3 Data analysis and statistical methods
After obtaining consumers’ evaluation of interactive performance and aesthetic experience of interactive projects through questionnaires, the study uses SPSS27.0 to organize the data content. The study uses structural equation modeling to verify the hypotheses and examine the impact of interactive projects on consumers’ aesthetic experience. The impact of aesthetic experience on consumers’ cultural identity and revisit intention is examined. Finally, the study uses the Bootstrapping method of AMOS software to evaluate the significance of the mediation effect of interactive projects on tourism consumers’ cultural identity.
3.Results
3.1 Reliability and validity results
To ensure the questionnaire internal consistency, the study used SPSS27.0 to test the Cronbach’s α coefficient of the questionnaire, and also analyzed the correlation coefficients between the variables within the questionnaire. The specific results are shown in Figure 1.
Fig.1 The reliability, validity, and variable correlation coefficient test results of the questionnaire
* indicates that the correlation between variables is significant, and the significance is at the 0.01 level. From Figure 1(a), the Cronbach’s α coefficients of A, B, C, and D were 0.83, 0.856, 0.851, and 0.82, respectively, all higher than 0.7. The convergent validity was 0.832, 0.863, 0.854, and 0.826, respectively. The data shows that the reliability of all questionnaires is good and the internal consistency of the questionnaires is high. In Figure 1(b), the data between each variable and itself is the average variance extraction amount, and the data between the variable and other variables is the correlation coefficient. All average variance extraction amounts were greater than 0.5, and there was a significant correlation between variables. The data indicate that discriminant validity between variables is ideal.
3.2 Hypothesis verification experimental results
To verify the hypotheses proposed in the study, the study used structural equation modeling to conduct path analysis of the overall model. The final main effect of the structural model is shown in Table 2.
Table.2 Test results of structural equation modeling
| Hypothesis | Path | Estimated | Standard error | t | p | Verification result |
| H1 | A→B | 0.350 | 0.076 | 4.582 | <0.001 | Yes |
| H2 | B→C | 0.363 | 0.084 | 4.308 | <0.001 | Yes |
| H3 | B→D | 0.130 | 0.055 | 2.353 | 0.019 | Yes |
| H4 | C→D | 0.216 | 0.048 | 4.476 | <0.001 | Yes |
From Table 2, in the path from the interactivity of interactive projects to consumers’ aesthetic experience, the effect coefficient was 0.35, p<0.001, indicating that H1 is established. In the path from consumers’ aesthetic experience to consumers’ cultural identity, the effect coefficient was 0.363, p<0.001, indicating that H2 is established. In the path from consumers’ aesthetic experience to consumers’ willingness to revisit, the effect coefficient was 0.13, p<0.05, indicating that H3 is established. In the path from consumer cultural identity to consumer revisit intention, the effect coefficient was 0.1216, p<0.001, indicating that H3 is established. Therefore, the results show that in the digital cultural tourism industry, interactive projects have obvious active impacts on consumers’ aesthetic experience, and tourists’ aesthetic experience has obvious active impacts on cultural identity and revisit intention. In addition, tourists’ cultural identity psychology exerts an active impact on willingness to revisit. It can be speculated that AR technology enables tourists to obtain diversified and enriched aesthetic experiences in digital cultural tourism by providing rich interactive forms and contents. AR technology plays a mediation role in tourists’ aesthetic experience and cultural identity, connecting tourists’ cultural identity and aesthetic experience.
3.3 Experimental results of mediation effect analysis
Finally, to explore the impact mechanism of interactive projects in the digital cultural tourism industry on consumers’ cultural identity, aesthetic experience and revisiting behavior, the study used the Bootstrapping of AMOS to explore the mediation effect, as presented in Table 3.
Table.3 Mediation effect detection in each path
| Effect | Estimated | The product of coefficients | 95% confidence interval for deviation correction | Percentile 95% confidence interval | p | |||
| Standard error | t | Lower limit | Upper limit | Lower limit | Upper limit | |||
| A→B→C | 0.015 | 0.006 | 2.50 | 0.006 | 0.034 | 0.005 | 0.03 | <0.001 |
| A→B→D | 0.048 | 0.027 | 1.778 | 0.005 | 0.117 | 0.001 | 0.111 | 0.724 |
| A→B→C→D | 0.028 | 0.012 | 2.333 | 0.012 | 0.065 | 0.009 | 0.056 | <0.001 |
| A→D(Direct effect) | -0.018 | 0.071 | -0.254 | -0.171 | 0.107 | -0.166 | 0.122 | 0.940 |
| A→D(Total effect) | 0.182 | 0.061 | 2.984 | 0.069 | 0.320 | 0.068 | 0.316 | 0.026 |
From Table 3, in the path from interactive projects to aesthetic experience and then to cultural identity, the mediation effect was 0.015, p<0.001. Aesthetic experience has active mediation effects on the impact of interactive projects on cultural identity. In the path from interactive projects to aesthetic experience and then to revisit intention, the mediation effect value was 0.048, p=0.724. Aesthetic experience does not have a significant mediation role in the impact of interactive projects on revisit intention. In addition, in the path from the interactive project through aesthetic experience and cultural identity to the willingness to revisit, the chain mediation effect was 0.028, p<0.001. Therefore, aesthetic experience and cultural identity have a significant chain mediation role in the impact of interactive projects on revisit intention. The direct effect of interactive projects and revisit intention was -0.018, p=0.94, indicating that the direct effect of interactive projects on revisit intention is not significant. Finally, the effect size of the total effect was 0.182, p<0.05, indicating that the total effect of interactive projects on revisit intention is significant. In the digital cultural tourism industry, aesthetic experience is an important intermediary variable for understanding the interactivity of interactive projects and forming cultural identity. Aesthetic experience not only directly affects tourist behavior, but also serves as a bridge between interactive projects and tourist behavior.
4.Experience enhancement strategies for digital cultural tourism interactive projects
4.1 Strengthen the core themes and technical effects of interactive projects
The research results show that interactive projects have obvious impacts on aesthetic experience (β=0.350, p<0.001), and aesthetic experience directly affects cultural identity (β=0.363, p<0.001). Therefore, in the development process of interactive projects, the optimization of technical experience is the key to stimulating aesthetic perception and cultural identity. Cultural tourism institutions must strengthen technical effects when building interactive experience projects. For example, when collecting and producing digital images related to cultural projects, ensuring high image clarity and rich details enhances visitors’ aesthetic pleasure through high-quality visual presentation. When designing interactive links in interactive projects, institutions can guide visitors to understand the historical context behind the project through independent exploration, for example, introducing virtual historical figures as tour guides, designing lightweight puzzle games, or targeting research groups to stimulate their curiosity and exploratory desire to effectively deepen the effect of narrative communication. Therefore, cultural identity is naturally generated through interaction, thereby winning continued market recognition for cultural tourism destinations.
Meanwhile, cultural tourism institutions need to clarify the main content and strengthen the competitiveness of cultural tourism exhibitions. Specifically, project planners need to dig deep into and sort out the cultural stories carried by interactive projects, and design and present digital content based on narrative communication theory. For example, in the process of presenting traditional art works through interactive projects, augmented reality technology is used to vividly restore the details and craftsmanship of cultural relics, and combined with holographic projection to create an immersive cultural space, so that static exhibits can display dynamic features, significantly enhancing visitors’ perception of cultural authenticity and emotional resonance [12]. The planning and design of interactive projects need to clearly define the target audience, and customize the exhibition theme and narrative method based on the results of the audience survey. The technical team can collaborate with history and education experts to develop a system that supports dynamic adaptation of content, switching narrative difficulty and presentation methods according to audiences of different age groups. The exhibition content, interactive forms, and core themes are organically integrated to ensure a clear, deep, and innovative form of the entire tourism experience.
4.2 Improve knowledge acquisition and collaborative participation in interactive projects
The study verifies that cultural identity has direct active impacts on revisit intention (β=0.216, p<0.001), while aesthetic experience indirectly affects revisit intention through the chain mediation effect of cultural identity (p<0.001). Therefore, incorporating educational and co-creative elements into interactions can deepen cultural identity and extend experiential value. In the planning and design of interactive projects for cultural tourism institutions, attention needs to be paid to the staged characteristics that are consistent with the physical and mental development of the audience. For example, the interactive project for teenagers needs to be based on their characteristics of curiosity, willingness to explore, and preference for hands-on practice. Interactive designs that go beyond one-way knowledge infusion need to be conceived to deeply integrate experience, entertainment and educational goals to create an environment that encourages active experimentation, hands-on practice, and exploration and discovery. Cultural tourism organizations can also systematically introduce gamification design strategies. By setting up exploration levels, knowledge challenge tasks, interactive puzzles and achievement reward systems, the tour process is enriched at multiple levels and dimensions. First, gamified interaction design can significantly enhance the fun and immersion of exploration and continuously mobilize tourists’ subjective initiative. In addition, the real-time positive feedback and reward mechanism can effectively maintain a positive emotional experience, thereby reducing the cognitive load caused by boring information and improving the efficiency and depth of knowledge absorption [13].
The interactive potential of digital cultural tourism is not only reflected in digital presentation and interpretation, but also in stimulating creativity and collaboration. The cultural tourism industry can go one step further and use technological means to provide users with a platform to become “content co-creators.” For example, visitors can use simple tools to restore virtual cultural relics, participate in historical plot arrangements, or continue community discussions and creations through online platforms after leaving the museum. The role of users has been transformed from “visitors” to “creators”, extending one-time travel experiences into long-term cultural interests and community connections, truly achieving sustainable development of educational functions, and internalizing and consolidating cultural identity through deep participation.
5.Conclusion
To verify the impact of interactive projects in the digital cultural tourism industry on consumers’ aesthetic experience and cultural cognition, the study conducted a questionnaire survey on 426 tourists. Interactive projects have active impacts on consumers’ aesthetic experience, with an effect coefficient of 0.35, p<0.001. Consumers’ aesthetic experience also has active impacts on consumers’ cultural identity, with an effect coefficient of 0.363, p<0.001. In the path from consumers’ cultural identity to consumers’ willingness to revisit, the effect coefficient was 0.1216, p<0.001. In the path of interactive projects through aesthetic experience and cultural identification and finally to revisit intention, the chain mediation effect was 0.028, p<0.001. The effect value of the total effect was 0.182, p<0.05. Therefore, the total effect of interactive projects on revisit intention is significant. The research shows that interactive projects in the digital cultural tourism industry can significantly and positively affect consumers’ aesthetic experience and revisiting behavior, and consumers’ aesthetic experience and cultural identity exert a significant mediation role. The limitation is that a single museum is selected as the case. In the future, it can be tested and compared in different types of cultural tourism scenarios to enhance the universality of the conclusions.
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