Factors Influencing Tourists’ Willingness to Pay for Industrial Heritage Tourism: A Case Study in Jingdezhen, China

Buildings, machinery, and other remnants of the industrial legacy were preserved and repurposed as tourist attractions to attract visitors (Xie, 2015).Industrial heritage tourism serves as a critical driver for social and economic development and has considerable value in tourism, leisure, education, cultural promotion, and preserving spiritual heritage.However, few studies have systematically examined how perceived value affects tourists' satisfaction and willingness to pay (WTP) in the context of industrial heritage, particularly in China.Addressing this gap, this study investigates the Taoxichuan Ceramic Cultural and Creative Park in Jingdezhen, a representative case of industrial heritage reuse.Guided by perceived value theory, a structural equation model (SEM) was developed to explore the relationships among perceived value, tourist satisfaction, and WTP.A total of 445 valid questionnaires were collected and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS.Results reveal that functional and epistemic values strongly influence tourist satisfaction, while emotional and social values have significant effects on WTP.Moreover, tourist satisfaction mediates the relationship between perceived value and WTP.These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of perceived value mechanisms in industrial heritage tourism and provide practical implications for enhancing visitor experience and financial sustainability in heritage site management.