Sustainability of Heritage Tourism: A Structural Perspective from Cultural Identity and Consumption Intention

Intangible cultural heritage can provide cultural value content for product development and marketing of tourism destinations, enabling these areas to obtain economic benefits. This study selects cultural identity as an antecedent variable, and applies the theory of planned behavior to construct the influence mechanism of cultural identity on tourists’ consumption intention in heritage tourism. In tourism development, visitors and local residents have reached a common cognitive basis for Kunqu Opera through cultural identity, thereby guiding consumer behavior and promoting the continuous development of Kunqu Opera tourism. This study takes Suzhou Kunqu Opera as a research object, designs a questionnaire for local residents and tourists, establishes a structural equation model, and explores the relationship between various impact factors. The results of the study show that cultural identity has a positive effect on consumption intentions in heritage tourism activities, confirming that cultural identity is an effective driving force to promote tourists’ consumption intention. Behavioral attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control have a positive effect on consumption intentions. This study supplements the existing knowledge on tourists’ consumption intention in intangible cultural heritage destinations. The study also provides new insights to enhance the consumption intention and achieve long-term sustainable development of the destination.