This study aims to investigate the cognitive mechanisms of rural residents amidst the renewal of suburban historical and cultural villages by examining the interplay between nostalgia, collective memory, subjective well-being, and place identity in rural tourism destinations. Using Naobao Village as a case study—a suburban historical and cultural village in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia—this research employs a comprehensive approach integrating experimental methods and questionnaire surveys. The findings demonstrate that analyzing the interaction among the four emotions can elucidate the cognitive mechanism of residents. Moreover, it uncovers that positive tourism effects significantly influence residents’ perception of their living environment with positive effects on collective memory, subjective well-being, and place identity. In the theoretical model for generating cognition among residents in suburban historical and cultural villages, subjective well-being and collective memory play crucial mediating roles. This study offers a novel perspective for spatial reconstruction and cultural evolution of tourist landscapes in suburban rural tourist destinations.

Introduction: Under the backdrop of continuous technological advancement and growing demands for tourist experiences, immersive cultural tourism spaces not only respond to the market need for profound engagement but also serve as crucial drivers for high-quality development in cultural industries. Methods: Taking “The Longest Day in Chang’an” as a case, this research constructs a “sense of immersion → emotional arousal → tourist value co-creation behavior” chain mediation model based on the Cognition-Affect-Behavior (CAB) framework and cognitive appraisal theory, with destination familiarity introduced as a moderating variable to elucidate the mechanisms of immersion’s impact on tourist value co-creation behavior. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used for empirical analysis. Results: The findings reveal that: (1) Immersion exerts a significantly positive influence on emotional arousal; (2) Emotional arousal partially mediates the relationship between immersion and tourist participation behavior, while fully mediating the connection between immersion and tourist citizenship behavior; (3) Destination familiarity demonstrates a significant negative moderating effect on the “immersion → tourist citizenship behavior” pathway. Discussion: These conclusions provide theoretical insights for fostering tourist value co-creation behaviors and offer managerial implications for the governance of immersive cultural tourism spaces.

The tourist's sense of place plays a pivotal role in the protection and renovation of historical districts, and it is an important driving force for the development, evolution and spatial reconstruction of historic districts. This study examines the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral characteristics of tourists through the framework of sense of place (SoP), using Yongqingfang—a representative historical district in Guangdong—as a case study. Additionally, it proposes a model to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the generation of sense of place. The findings indicate that perception of place activities and the perception of place environment positively influence tourists' positive emotional responses and their behavioral intentions. Based on the analysis of the results of hypothesis testing, the study also tested the mediating effects of positive and negative place emotions. It was determined that tourists generate place emotions in their cognition and experience of a place, and these emotions subsequently influence their behavior intentions. The study provides theoretical guidance for the choice of development pathways, renovation and reconstruction of historical districts from the perspective of the generation mechanism of tourists' sense of place.

Eco-compensation is not only an important supplementary source of funding for ecological conservation in national parks, but also an important mechanism through which ecological beneficiaries share the costs of national park conservation. In the context of the public welfare of national parks, free admission does not imply the absence of responsibility. Therefore, it is essential to strengthen tourists’ awareness of ecological conservation for national park management. Taking Wuyishan National Park as the study area, this study employed a questionnaire survey, distributed 630 questionnaires in total, and obtained 582 valid responses. The contingent valuation method (CVM) and a multiple-bounded dichotomous choice (MBDC) design were used to examine tourists’ willingness to pay (WTP) for eco-compensation and its influencing factors: (1) The tourists’ estimated average WTP for eco-compensation in Wuyishan National Park is approximately ¥451.72, which is higher than the total cost of admission and basic experience activities in the park. It implies that tourists have a relatively high willingness to pay for eco-compensation in the national park. (2) Based on Value–Belief–Norm (VBN) theory, the hierarchical OLS regression results showed that personal norms (β = 0.636, p < 0.01), awareness of consequences (β = 0.259, p < 0.01), and ascription of responsibility (β = 0.277, p < 0.01) were positively associated with lnWTP. The strength of these associations varied across VBN dimensions, with personal norms showing the strongest positive association with tourists’ WTP for eco-compensation. (3) Income differences have a clear effect on WTP. Higher-income tourists reported greater WTP, which was more strongly associated with awareness of consequences and personal norms, whereas lower-income tourists were more responsive to environmental values and ascription of responsibility. This study identifies an association between tourists’ environmental responsibility and willingness to pay for eco-compensation in the context of national park tourism. The findings offer empirical support for policy measures to regulate tourist behavior, enhance national park revenue, and reinforce the public welfare function of national parks.

This study aims to investigate the psychological cognitive mechanisms of rural residents amidst the renewal of suburban historical and cultural villages by examining the interplay between nostalgia, collective memory, subjective well-being and place identity in rural tourism destinations. Using Naobao Village as a case study—a suburban historical and cultural village in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, this research employs a comprehensive approach integrating experimental methods and questionnaire surveys. The findings demonstrate that analyzing the interaction among the four emotions can elucidate the psychological cognitive mechanism of residents. Moreover, it uncovers that tourism effects significantly influence residents' perception of their living environment with positive effects on collective memory, subjective well-being and place identity. In the theoretical model for generating psychological cognition among residents in suburban historical and cultural villages, subjective well-being and collective memory play crucial mediating roles. This study provides a theoretical foundation and practical guidance for spatial reconstruction and cultural evolution of tourist landscapes in suburban rural tourist destinations.

The national parks agglomeration in China is presently undergoing a pivotal phase of planning and construction. Synergistic development of nature-based tourism within the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau National Parks Agglomeration is essential for optimizing the spatial configuration of regional functions and substantiating the necessity of the agglomeration development of national parks. This study develops an assessment framework for the synergistic development of nature-based tourism based on the interconnection of elements. By constructing a model of nature-based tourism elements’ interconnections and employing social network analysis, it investigates the characteristics and status of synergistic development in nature-based tourism within the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau National Parks Agglomeration, while also proposing pathways for optimization. The findings reveal that: (1) By integrating multi-source heterogeneous data on resource complementarity, product connectivity, tourist source sharing, and information linkage, a robust assessment framework for the synergistic development of nature-based tourism in the national parks agglomeration was established. (2) The synergistic development of nature-based tourism within the national parks agglomeration on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau demonstrates spatial heterogeneity. Shangri-La National Park and Qinghai Lake National Park serve as the core of the tourism flow network, whereas Mount Kailash National Park, Gaoligong Mountain National Park, and Pamir–Kunlun Mountains National Park exhibit the least favorable states of coordinated development. (3) Utilizing social network analysis, this study classified the national parks into core and peripheral positions within the nature-based tourism synergy network and proposed corresponding optimization strategies. The findings of this research contribute to optimizing the overall layout of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau national parks agglomeration. Additionally, they provide theoretical and methodological references for the nature-based tourism synergistic development in other national park agglomerations.