Footprints through time: examining the nexus between cultural preservation intentions and hiking tourism in ancient towns

ABSTRACT

This study explores how hiking tourism in ancient towns influences the intention to protect their culture. Surveying hiking tourists in Quanzhou’s ancient town, it finds that the attractiveness of these towns positively impacts hiking motivation, which in turn affects the intention of cultural protection through positive emotions or experiential memory. Surprisingly, the static nature of ancient town atmospheres weakens the positive relationship between hiking motivation and positive emotions, potentially hindering excitement. However, attractiveness strengthens the link between hiking motivation and experiential memory, evoking nostalgia and providing insights into how hiking shapes cultural preservation intentions in ancient town tourism.

KEYWORDS:

• Hiking motivation
• positive emotion
• experiential memory
• cultural protection intention
• protection motivation theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the first author on reasonable request at [email protected].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Youth Project of National Social Science Foundation, China [grant number: 20CGL022]; National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan [grant number: NSTC 112-2410-H-032-047].