The charm of fashion: Value co-creation in fashion production and consumption at heritage tourism destinations
Author Identifier (ORCID)
Abstract
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.
Keywords
fashion consumption, fashion production, heritage tourism destinations, intangible cultural heritage, value co-creation
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
E-ISSN
17476631
ISSN
1743873X
Publication Title
Journal of Heritage Tourism
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
School of Business and Law
RAS ID
100650
Funding Information
This study was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [Grant Number: 25CGL073].
Copyright
subscription content
Recommended Citation
Yu, J., Xie, C., Huang, P., & Huang, S. (2026). The charm of fashion: Value co-creation in fashion production and consumption at heritage tourism destinations. Journal of Heritage Tourism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743873X.2026.2717330