The charm of fashion: value co-creation in fashion production and consumption at heritage tourism destinations

The role of fashion in cultural heritage tourism has attracted increasing attention from both practitioners and scholars. However, robust theoretical explanations of how heritage tourism destinations participate in the production and consumption of fashion remain limited. Drawing on an exploratory single-case study of the World Heritage site of Quanzhou, this research analyzes in-depth interview data from 17 heritage tourism stakeholders, complemented by secondary sources. The findings reveal that heritage tourism destinations operate through a virtuous cycle of fashion production, fashion diffusion, and fashion consumption. Within this dynamic process, celebrities, government agencies, retailers, heritage inheritors, local residents, and tourists collectively transform elements of intangible cultural heritage into fashionable symbols, legitimize them, and embed them in experiential consumption. Furthermore, fashion-based value co-creation in heritage tourism destinations generates three interrelated forms of value – economic, public, and cultural – each encompassing distinct value attributes. This study advances theoretical understanding at the intersection of cultural heritage tourism and fashion studies while offering practical insights for destination management and heritage sustainability.