A Study on the Influence of Tourist Comfort in Museum Agglomerations on the Sustainable Development of Urban Tourism: Evidence from Jongno-gu, Seoul, from the Perspective of Chinese Tourists

This study examines how perceived tourist comfort in museum agglomerations influences tourist satisfaction, museum agglomeration vitality, and the cultural sustainability of urban tourism, focusing on Jongno-gu, Seoul, based on the experiences of Chinese tourists. Moving beyond facility-centered evaluations of individual museums, the study conceptualizes museum agglomerations as continuous tourism environments shaped by movement, guidance, congestion, waiting, rest, and overall usability. Four latent constructs—Tourist Comfort, Tourist Satisfaction, Museum Agglomeration Vitality, and Cultural Sustainability of Urban Tourism—were tested using structural equation modeling. The results show that Tourist Comfort significantly enhances both Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality, while Tourist Satisfaction further strengthens Museum Agglomeration Vitality. In addition, both Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality have significant positive effects on the Cultural Sustainability of Urban Tourism. Tourist Comfort also exerts an indirect influence on cultural sustainability through the mediating pathways of Tourist Satisfaction and Museum Agglomeration Vitality. These findings contribute a demand-side, cluster-level explanation of how museum districts become experientially activated for tourists, while also indicating that the results should be interpreted as case-based evidence for Chinese tourists in Jongno-gu rather than as a universally generalizable model.