National traditional festival tourism and visitors’ national identity: a dual collaborative framework of cultural inheritance and inherited innovation

Purpose This study aims to explore and clarify the role of national traditional festival tourism in cultivating national identity (NI) and confirm its construction model. Design/methodology/approach Based on social identity theory and complexity theory, a complex nurturing framework for visitors’ NI is developed. The paper with 479 samples used fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to analyse NI from the holistic perspective of “cultural inheritance” (festival authenticity FA, historical re-enactment HR and cultural experience CE) and “inherited innovation” (event design innovation EDI, cultural innovation CUI, aesthetic innovation AI and creative innovation CRI). Findings The findings indicated three driving modes of forming NI: cultural inheritance-led, inherited innovation-led and the dual coordination of cultural inheritance and inherited innovation. FA, HR, CE, AI and CRI are core incentives, whereas event design and CUI are AI. Practical implications The findings provide directions for strengthening visitors’ national emotion, which has significant value for the development of traditional festival tourism. Originality/value The study offers a new perspective for the cultivation of NI in the tourism context and provides theoretical guidance for the coordinated development of cultural inheritance and inherited innovation in national traditional festival tourism destinations.