From Online Traffic to Tourist Retention: Perceived Characteristics and Optimization Strategies of Tianshui Urban Tourism Image of Tianshui in the New Media Era

The new media era has profoundly reshaped how tourists perceive destinations. With its distinctive cuisine and rich cultural heritage, Tianshui has rapidly gained visibility on new media platforms. Transforming short-term online traffic into long-term tourism appeal, and thereby moving from online traffic to tourist retention, has become a central issue for the city’s high-quality development. Drawing on tourism destination image perception theory (TDI), push–pull theory, and media dependency theory, this study examines the perceived characteristics of Tianshui’s urban tourism image through a quantitative analysis of 215 questionnaire responses. The findings show that Tianshui’s tourism image is concentrated around two dominant associations: an “internet-famous culinary city” and a “sacred site associated with Fuxi, the cultural ancestor of Chinese civilization.” Short videos are the main channel through which tourists acquire destination information. However, current communication practices still face several problems, including content homogenization, insufficient exploration of cultural connotations, and relatively weak perceptions of tourism service facilities. Accordingly, this paper proposes optimization strategies from three dimensions: deepening image positioning, improving the new media communication matrix, and upgrading the service experience. The findings provide theoretical support and practical guidance for reconstructing Tianshui’s tourism image and promoting the sustainable development of Tianshui and other emerging internet-famous cities.