Browsing by Author "Xiang, Zheng"

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    Analysing Linkage between ICT and US State Tourism Websites
    Zach, Florian J.; Xiang, Zheng; Baggio, Rodolfo (Texas A & M University, 2019-12-24)
    Destination websites have been an important component in the online travel ecosystem since the beginning of the commercial Internet, and their adoption and use of ICT websites to serve their online marketing goals reflects their overall strategy and ability to adapt to the ever-changing environment. The purpose of this study is to examine 1) what types of ICT websites are hyperlinked to destination websites, and 2) how the linkages to ICT websites have evolved along with the significant technological developments during the last two decades. To that end we analysed archival hyperlink data for state tourism websites in the United States. We find that the connectivity between US state tourism websites and ICT websites increased dramatically with the availability of social media and Web 2.0 websites, and fragmentation of the network was reduced likely due to technology convergence. This study offers several research directions for understanding technology adoption by destination marketing organizations.
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    Are You Judging Me? Exploring Legitimacy Through the Lens of Black Travelers
    Tucker, Charis Nicole (Virginia Tech, 2024-04-09)
    In recent years, the focus on the Black travel market has increased exponentially. While some may consider this to be a new market segment, Black travelers have been in the travel industry for years, however their legitimacy as a viable market segment has been questionable. This dissertation uses a three article approach to further the scholarship on Black travelers. The first paper uses a qualitative approach to explore the evolution of the Black travel market as represented in Black print media from 1920-2020. It further uncovers the tensions that exist between the socio-cultural and political norms of the times. The second article develops a valid and reliable measure of legitimacy using cognitive, pragmatic, and relational dimensions. The third article uses an experiment to investigate Black travelers' perceptions of racial justice advocacy statements made by destination marketing organizations (DMOs). Results from this dissertation indicate the longstanding engagement in the travel industry primarily through entrepreneurial endeavors. It also showcases Black travelers' ability to disrupt institutions and systems due to their willingness to share personal accounts of discrimination and through activism travel. As it relates to the evaluations of the tourism industry, Black travelers like to be recognized and represented in tourism-related products and services. Thus, their evaluations of DMOs' response to racial justice warranted a more detailed approach than what was often displayed.
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    Big Data Analytics and Hotel Guest Experience: A Critical Analysis of the Literature
    Zarezadeh, Zohreh; Rastegar, Raymond; Xiang, Zheng (2022)
    Purpose: Guest experience and satisfaction have been central constructs in the hospitality management literature for decades. In recent years, the use of big data as an increasing trending practice in hospitality research has been characterised as a modern approach which offers valuable insights into understanding and enhancing guest experience and satisfaction. Recognising such potential, both researchers and practitioners need to better understand big data’s application and contribution in the hospitality landscape. This paper critically reviews and synthesizes the literature to shed light on trends and extant patterns in the application of big data in hospitality, particularly in research focusing on hotel guest experience and satisfaction. Design/Methodology/approach: This research is based on a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Metaanalysis (PRISMA) literature review of academic journal articles in Google Scholar published up to the end of 2020. Findings: By data types, user-generated content, especially online reviews and ratings were at the centre of attention for hospitality-related big data research. By variables, the hospitality-related big data fell into two crucial factor categories: physical environment and guest-to-staff interactions. Originality/value: This paper shows that big data research can create new insights into attributes that have been extensively researched in the hospitality field. It facilitates a thorough understanding of big data studies and provides valuable insights into future prospects for both researchers and practitioners.
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    The Booking Window Evolution and its Impact on Hotel Revenue Management Forecasting
    Webb, Timothy Dayton (Virginia Tech, 2018-01-05)
    Travel booking behavior has changed substantially over the past two decades. The emergence of new technology and online intermediaries has provided travelers with the flexibility to book up until the date of stay. This has created a fast-paced, dynamic booking environment that disrupts traditional revenue management strategies focused on pricing and allocating rooms based on the time of purchase. The study explores the joint effects of technology and the economy on booking window lead times. It also evaluates a range of forecasting techniques and the importance of utilizing the booking curve for forecasting in dynamic booking environments.
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    The Business Case for CSR in the Hospitality Context
    Rhou, Yinyoung (Virginia Tech, 2019-01-18)
    In this dissertation, including three papers, I examine the business case for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the hospitality industry. The first paper provides a systematic review of the business case for CSR based on 170 articles published in leading hospitality journals. The review paper serves as a literature review of this dissertation, leading to the second and third papers. In the second paper, I examine CSR as a strategic tool to offset corporate social irresponsibility (CSiR) in the hospitality industry. Findings indicate sector differences within the hospitality industry. The third paper examines corporate philanthropy, focusing on the notion of strategic philanthropy. Results indicate the predominance of strategic philanthropy especially in hospitality companies, compared to companies in other industries. Findings of the dissertation as a whole suggest the need for hospitality-specific business case for CSR. In practical terms, this dissertation provides better informed decisions for hospitality mangers in terms of using CSR as a corporate strategy to achieve competitive advantages in the highly competitive industry.
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    A Collective Sense of Place and the Image of the City @ Urban Public Spaces: Analysis on People's Perception of User-Generated Image Content and Hashtags on Instagram
    Lee, Hana (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-03)
    Urban public spaces are constantly restructured with new meaning, reflecting their socio-cultural, political, historical, and technological influences. Over the last two decades, the rapid technological advancements and increasingly widespread use of mobile devices give people a chance to share their experiences of their immediate surroundings through various applications. As these platforms enable people to create and exchange various forms of User-Generated Content (UGC) has gained wide attention as an invaluable source of information on human-environment relationships including people's timely perception, emotion, preference, and sense of place in public space. This study employs quantitative content analysis to identify collective perceptions of urban public spaces and their characteristics as projected through a photo-sharing social media application, Instagram. A total of 1,200 users' photos and associated hashtags geo-referenced to three New York City urban public spaces, Bryant Park, Madison Square Park, and Union Square. This study begins with a qualitative phase, employing manual categorization techniques to identify the concepts in visual and textual data. The second phase applied a statistical analysis method, a set of descriptive analytics, and chi-square tests to answer the research questions for this study. Findings indicate physical attributes of urban squares are the most dominant type of geo-referenced users' photographs through the visual social media platform. People's immediate perceptions vary with time and place, while the patterns of hashtag usage found in this study show no difference across the three urban squares. people's perception of urban squares goes beyond the boundaries of the square itself, encompassing the streetscape, buildings, and local businesses adjacent to the square. While people rarely utilize hashtags as a method of emotional expression, findings show a clear connection between hashtags associated with users' photo content and the image of the city.
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    Customer Engagement and Value Co-Creation for Hospitality Open Innovation
    Shin, Hakseung (Virginia Tech, 2020-04-08)
    While innovation has been a critical tool for the success of hospitality businesses, there has been little research concerning how hospitality service innovation is created. Focusing on knowledge development for service innovation, this dissertation examines hospitality open innovation processes by highlighting the critical role of customers as important external stakeholders for knowledge creation. More specifically, this research examines how hospitality brand community members engage in brand activities that co-create non-transactional knowledge value for open innovation. To achieve the research purpose, the dissertation consists of four independent studies. The design of the four studies followed a theory development process focusing on bibliometric analysis (Study 1), exploratory analysis (Study 2), empirical analysis (Study 3), and experimental analysis (Study 4). Study 1 conducted bibliometric co-citation analysis to examine the foundation and evolution of the service innovation research in both hospitality and tourism and service management literature. Study 2 examined how hospitality (hotel) customers engage in an online brand community and what types of value are co-created from their engagement behaviors. Study 3 empirically developed a multi-dimensional measure of customer engagement behaviors for co-creating non-transactional value. Lastly, Study 4 examined how hospitality online brand community members participate in open innovation behaviors as a result of customer empowerment and social recognition. Study 1 identified critical research opportunities for future hospitality and tourism research in terms of innovation creation, diffusion, and evaluation. Most importantly, open innovation via customer engagement was identified as a critical topic to understand hospitality innovation creation. In Study 2, customer engagement behaviors, motivations, and value co-creation were qualitatively analyzed in the context of an online hotel brand community. Using mixed-methods, including netnography analysis and qualitative written interviews, a conceptual framework of value co-creation via customer engagement was developed. Based on this framework, Study 3 developed a scale consisting of 15 items measuring customer engagement behaviors in terms of influential-experience value, C-to-B innovation value, relational value, and citizenship value. Lastly, Study 4 found a causal process that customer empowerment makes a positive impact on the intention of open innovation engagement and the creativity of ideas by mediating intrinsic motivation.
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    Daily online review sentiment and hotel performance
    Nicolau, Juan Luis; Xiang, Zheng; Wang, Dan (Emerald, 2023-05-10)
    Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the links between daily review sentiment and the hotel performance measures of occupancy rate (OR), average daily rate (ADR) and revenue per available room (RevPAR). Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted review sentiment analyses in three moments (−1, −7 and −14 days) before arrival time using a data set of budget hotel performance and online reviews. The aim was to identify the effect of review sentiment in the budget hotel market on the three performance metrics. Findings: Daily sentiment positively affects ADR and negatively affects OR and RevPAR, but only up to a certain threshold, after which the trend reverses. Prices increase with the level of sentiment, and high prices lead to low OR and RevPAR only when the sentiment scores are low. When they are high, they are associated with low rates, which lead to high OR and RevPAR. Research limitations/implications: Daily review sentiment can be viewed as a valuable “barometer” indicating a hotel’s daily operational effectiveness. Daily sentiment can thus allow hotel managers to adjust their dynamic pricing strategies more accurately. Originality/value: This study identifies daily sentiment as an alternative predictor of hotel performance. In addition to the roles of valence and volume in the decision-making process, the authors found that daily review sentiment can be an “in-the-moment” factor with a high impact, encouraging consumers to complete their transactions. This study suggests that aggregated measures such as the total number of reviews and overall ratings of the hotel should not be the sole consideration in reputation management.
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    Design standardization by Airbnb multi-unit hosts: Professionalization in the sharing economy
    Zhang, Huihui; Zach, Florian J.; Xiang, Zheng (Elsevier, 2023-01-01)
    Increased professionalism in the short-term rental market has enabled multi-unit hosts to replicate design features across their listings to increase efficiency; however, this standardization represents a huge risk caused by decreased flexibility. We identify the impacts of functional and aesthetic design standardization on guest experience and satisfaction using Airbnb as a case study. The findings show that design standardization impacts guest experience and satisfaction asymmetrically. The results provide implications for tourism place design by articulating the structural relationships of standardized design on guest experiences within the typically unstandardized home-sharing market. This study contributes to design literature by studying design from a strategic level and adds knowledge to standardization literature by testing customer-side outcomes within a micro-entrepreneurship context.
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    The Effects of Descriptive Food Names on Impressions, Anticipated Satisfaction, and Willingness to Pay More
    Kim, Seontaik (Virginia Tech, 2015-07-22)
    Descriptive menu labels are omnipresent elements in restaurant menus. Food service operations often use sensory, nostalgic, and brand descriptions to signal a customer's food-specific perceptions. Extant research has shown links between descriptive menu labels and food taste/enjoyment perceptions. To extend and expand the extant literature, this dissertation proposes that descriptive menu labels can be viewed as an anthropomorphizing factor, leading to different magnitudes of consumption-related attitudes and behavioral intentions in a restaurant. Drawing from metaphoric transfer theory and social impression models, the present research study suggests that descriptive labels in a restaurant transmit metaphors that influence consumers' impending warmth and competence perceptions of a restaurant. This dissertation also investigates the potential inversed magnitudes of anticipated satisfaction and willingness-to-pay-more driven by warmth/competence. In this empirical study, descriptive menu labels were experimentally manipulated. Consumers' warmth-related and competence-related service impressions, anticipated satisfaction, and willingness-to-pay-more more were measured. The empirical investigation comprised two pretests and one main study. The hypotheses were tested in two menu contexts (an entrée menu vs. a dessert menu). Overall, the results suggest that customers view a restaurant with sensory- and nostalgia-triggering descriptions as offering warmer impending services (i.e., with kindness, generosity, and understanding) compared to a restaurant with general descriptions. On the other hand, customers view a restaurant that utilizes brand-related descriptions as providing more competent and skilled impending services than a restaurant that utilizes general descriptions. In addition, the findings suggest that consumers' warmth impressions serve a more important role in their anticipated satisfaction than do their competence impressions; however, regarding willingness-to-pay-more, competence impressions factor more significantly than do warmth impressions. The replications of the results across the two menu contexts showed the robustness of the findings; however, there was a different pattern observed for the effects of sensory labels on consumers' warmth-related impressions in the dessert menu selection context. This dissertation contributes to emerging streams of menu labeling and service management literature. The findings presented in this dissertation have both theoretical and managerial implications for the food service industry.
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    Evolving Landscape of Partnerships of U.S. Destination Marketing Websites: External Hyperlinks From 1999 to 2018
    Zach, Florian J.; Baggio, Rodolfo; Xiang, Zheng (SAGE, 2023-03-01)
    Hyperlinks to external websites are a reflection of partnerships of destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This longitudinal study investigates the external hyperlinks placed on the home page of U.S. state tourism websites from 1999 to 2018. Our analysis shows that the landscape of DMO partnerships underwent considerable growth; however, the growth was distributed unevenly among categories of partners, particularly as social media became increasingly dominant. State DMOs appeared to be changing their external partnerships quite often, while their strategy was likely influenced by technological innovation, policy, and destination-specific issues. Based on these findings, the authors discuss the study implications and provide suggestions for future research.
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    Factors Influencing Exhibitor Satisfaction and Loyalty: A Meta-Analysis on the Chinese Exhibition Market
    Liu, Linyan; Xiang, Zheng; Liu, Yuyao; Zach, Florian J.; McGehee, Nancy G. (MDPI, 2020-10-12)
    With the exhibition sector becoming increasingly important for the hospitality and tourism industry, it is critical to understand what drives the success of an exhibition. Through a comprehensive literature review, we first identified two broad categories of factors, namely exhibition attributes and exhibitor perceptions, that influence exhibitor satisfaction and loyalty. Next, a meta-analysis was conducted based on 26 empirical papers studying the Chinese exhibition market to quantitatively evaluate these relationships. The results show that among the exhibition attributes, booth management, service personnel, and exhibition environment are the most important factors affecting exhibitor satisfaction, while exhibition brand is the most important factor affecting loyalty. Among exhibitor perceptions, service quality is more important for satisfaction, while perceived value is more meaningful to loyalty. This study offers insights into strategies for exhibition organizers to cultivate long-term relationships, and to better cope with the challenges of emerging forces such as the Internet.
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    Imbrications of IT and Hospitality Organizations
    Wang, Dan; Wang, Jigang; Xiang, Zheng (2021-10-01)
    The impact of information technology (IT) on the hospitality and tourismindustry has been extensively documented in the last two decades. However, what happens during the adoption process and to the organization over time due to changes in IT is unclear. This study applies the lens of “imbrication,” stemming from Giddens' theory of structuration, to examine the interactions between a casino resort in Macau, China and the use of customer relations management systems over 20 years (1997–2017). The processes of imbrications of IT and people reveal the social construction of reality. This paper expands our scope of knowledge on organizations' integration of IT by offering a window into the complex, recurrent nature of IT adoption in hospitality and tourism industry.
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    The investigation of the effect of corporate governance on firm's credit ratings in the hospitality industry
    Guo, Keni (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-19)
    Investment in hospitality firms is perceived to be riskier than investments in other types of industries. Based on literature linking good corporate governance to lower default risks and higher credit ratings, this quantitative study is designed to identify the effects of corporate governance on credit ratings in the hospitality industry. After exploring the various factors influencing the characteristics of corporate governance, as well as the specific risks for capital financing in hospitality firms, this research provides empirical evidence to show that hospitality firms with stronger shareholder influence tend to have higher credit ratings. In a related finding, this investigation confirms that hospitality stakeholders are able to evaluate their potential risks by determining a firm's credit ratings and can protect their long-term interest by increasing their power versus management in the corporate governance of the firm.
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    Links Between Cultural Heritage Tourism and Overall Sense of Tourist Well-Being
    Jew, Jeongyong (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-24)
    Cultural heritage tourism is still the growing segment of tourism industry. Moreover, many tourists prefer exploring something new, cultural heritage tourism (CHT) has become one of the major "new" segments of tourism demand. Therefore, it is true that cultural heritage tourism has been one of the major sources of both quantitative and qualitative growth of tourism industry in many countries. In regard to the context of cultural heritage tourism industry, by identifying the relationship and impacts between tourist motivations, tourist satisfaction, and overall sense of tourist well-being, tourism marketers and administrators who are engaged in cultural heritage tourism can improve strategies for creating tourist's distinctive experiences, allowing tourists to become more physically and emotionally engaged in cultural heritage tourism destinations. However, there is, if any, very limited work that explores the link between cultural heritage tourism experiences and overall sense of tourist well-being induced by these experiences. Therefore, this study examines what attributes on tourist motivation contribute to the overall sense of well-being of tourists who visit cultural heritage tourism destinations. Therefore, this study examines what attributes on tourist motivations contribute to the satisfaction and the overall sense of well-being of tourists who visit cultural heritage tourism sites. An online survey using panel data from a marketing research company was used to collect 350 completed questionnaires. Tourist motivations (HONs and LONs), tourist satisfaction, and overall sense of tourist well-being were measured using different scales from previous researches discussed in the literature review. This study conducted various analyses including a profile of 350 respondents based on descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis of tourist motivations, correlation analysis of all constructs, and path analysis for the conceptual study model to understand the relationships between tourist motivations and tourist satisfaction, tourist motivations and overall sense of tourist well-being, and tourist satisfaction and overall sense of tourist well-being and identify impacts of each construct on the study model. This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge in understanding the link between cultural heritage tourism and overall sense of tourist well-being and identifying the perceived value and critical role of tourist motivations and tourist satisfaction connecting to overall sense of tourist well-being by establishing a theory based on empirical link between tourist motivations and overall sense of tourist well-being via tourist satisfaction in the context of cultural heritage tourism business.
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    Multi-level differentiation of short-term rental properties: A deep learning-based analysis of aesthetic design
    Zhang, Huihui; Zach, Florian J.; Xiang, Zheng (Elsevier, 2023)
    This study aims to test the effects of differentiation on short-term rental performance along the dimension of aesthetic design. Online platforms display listing cover photos as search results, thus making aesthetic design a key element of differentiation. We hypothesize opposite impacts in two geographical scopes, local- and city-level, which answers an important question in differentiation literature of whom to compare to. Based on the assumption that localized competition has asymmetric influences, we introduce competition intensity as moderator. Hypotheses are tested with 96,196 listings from April 2021 to March 2022 in the Texas Airbnb market. We quantify aesthetic design by probability distribution scores over four design styles predicted by a pre-trained machine learning model. This study identifies differentiation benefits at local-level but discounts at city-level. Furthermore, it shows market intensity strengthens benefits and mitigates discounts regardless of the geographic scope. Finally, implications for aesthetic design as a strategic tool are discussed.
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    Optimal distinctiveness of short-term rental property design
    Zhang, Huihui; Zach, Florian J.; Xiang, Zheng (Elsevier, 2024-07)
    The short-term rental market remains highly competitive, requiring that hosts should identify effective strategies to position their products for desirable performance. This study investigates the optimal balance beyond dyadic choice between differentiating from or conforming to competitors, in the dimensions of properties’ functional and aesthetic design. We hypothesize U-shaped distinctiveness-performance relationships considering high legitimacy pressure and low strategy effectiveness in the short-term rental context. Moreover, the moderating effects of factors including online review volume and listing age are examined. Analyzing a sample of 99,757 Airbnb listings in Texas, the findings reveal different patterns of product positioning between functionality and aesthetics. The moderate degree of distinctiveness in functionalities leads to the worst performance while in aesthetics generating the best outcome. This study contributes to the hospitality literature by introducing and testing optimal distinctiveness within the short-term rental market. The findings also provide positioning guidance for short-term rental listings under different conditions.
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    Strategizing in Response to Environmental Uncertainty in the Hospitality Industry: A Data-Analytical Approach
    Zhang, Huihui (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-23)
    The hospitality industry confronts continuous challenges from external environments, such as the COVID pandemic, the proliferation of short-term rentals, and the disruptive innovations of Generative AI. For businesses, understanding these external conditions and adapting strategies accordingly is crucial yet challenging, especially considering environmental uncertainties. Therefore, this dissertation investigates the effectiveness of different strategies in navigating market, competitive, and technological uncertainties, through a big-data analytical approach. It incorporates three studies, each focusing on one specific strategy and its varying outcomes under environmental changes. These studies employ machine learning algorithms to quantify strategies and utilize econometric models to infer the causal relationships between strategies and their outcomes. The first study examines how standardization affects short-term rental unit survival across two market conditions: pre-COVID growth and during-COVID decline. The results indicate that the risks arising from standardization are heightened under market decline. In addition, the effectiveness of standardization varies with design attributes to which the strategy is applied. Standardizing functional design boosts unit survival in the growing market but leads to a higher failure rate during the decline. Aesthetic standardization, on the other hand, negatively impacts survival in both conditions, with a stronger effect in the declining market. The second study identifies the impacts of differentiation on unit performance in the short-term rental context in two competitive environments: local versus city-level. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of differentiation increases with competitive pressure. At the local level where firms face localized competition, differentiation enhances unit performance. Conversely, in city-level environments where direct competition diminishes, it yields negative outcomes. Moreover, competition intensity, as reflected by the number of competitors and the degree of market concentration, is found to amplify the benefits of and mitigate the drawbacks of differentiation. The third study explores if adopting Generative AI to hotel online review response can improve customer feedback, under varying technological settings. It finds that simulated AI adoption improves customer perceptions when Generative AI models operate at high temperatures, while models with low temperatures lead to negative outcomes. The findings further underscore the importance of task-technology fit, revealing that Generative AI's effectiveness varies with review valence. Specifically, high-temperature settings for positive reviews generate significant benefits, whereas low-temperature settings lead to adverse effects. Conversely, for negative reviews, AI adoption demonstrates more stable outcomes across temperature settings, indicating balanced benefits of both low and high temperatures. In short, this dissertation identifies that the effectiveness of standardization, differentiation, and AI adoption strategies is contingent on environmental conditions. It underscores the importance of strategic adaptation in navigating contemporary challenges.
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    Three Essays on Contextual Effects in Traveler's Use of Online Reviews
    Shin, Seunghun (Virginia Tech, 2021-05-28)
    Tourists' information processing is a dynamic process in that their information use depends on the surrounding context. From tourists' personal characteristics (e.g., age, gender, and travel experience), nature of tourism products (e.g., intangibility and variability), to the development of information technology (e.g., the prevalent usage of mobile devices for information search), a variety of contextual factors are involved when tourists process information for decision-making. Given the importance of online reviews in the hospitality and tourism field as information sources, this dissertation aims to understand the contextual effects of online reviews on tourists' decision-making. By selecting several contextual factors, three independent and interrelated essays examine how tourists' cognitive or behavioral responses to online reviews are affected by those factors. Considering that local search (e.g., looking for nearby restaurants by using "restaurants near me" as a search query) becomes an important context for using online reviews, both Study 1 and 2 focus on the local search context. Study 1 investigates the role of online reviews in the local search context; specifically, how online reviews are used as ranking factors by local search platforms (LSPs), is examined with an analytical approach. Study 2 investigates tourists' processing of online reviews in the local search context; specifically, how online reviews are differently processed in the local search context (e.g., searching for a restaurant that can be visited immediately) compared with the non-local context (e.g., searching for a restaurant that can be visited in a month), is examined by conducting an experiment. Building on Study 2, Study 3 investigates how tourists' processing of online reviews is affected by another contextual factor, the nature of tourism products; specifically, how the variability of tourism products (i.e., their change in quality over time) influences the way tourists process online reviews, is examined through social media analytics. Results of the three essays provide empirical support for the underlying argument of this dissertation: understanding tourists' responses to online reviews depends on factors that transcend their information characteristics. As a whole, the findings of this dissertation suggest the need for considering the surrounding context to further understand how online reviews affect tourists' decision-making. As practical implications, this dissertation discusses the importance of leveraging various types of information about tourists' context (e.g., location accessed from smartphones, and physiological condition accessed through smartwatches).
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    Visiting Intangible Cultural Heritage Tourism Sites: From Value Cognition to Attitude and Intention
    Qiu, Qihang; Zheng, Tianxiang; Xiang, Zheng; Zhang, Mu (MDPI, 2019-12-23)
    Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) has recently become an important area of tourism development for many countries that are home to such cultural resources. Within this context, the value of an ICH site has often been used to guide tourism development and policy making. In addition, community residents’ attitude and perception of ICH contribute to tourism development. In this study, we used the traditional firing technology of Longquan celadon in Zhejiang Province, China, as a case study to understand the relationships between value recognition and attitude along with the intention to visit the heritage site. We surveyed 368 residents and conducted path analysis to test such relationships. Findings revealed significant positive correlations between residents’ cognition of ICH value, their attitudes and travel intentions. Among them, attitudes played a mediating role in the formation of value cognition to travel intention. These findings offer insights into ICH-related tourism development, particularly regarding tourism product design, marketing and post-development evaluation, as well as the conservation of ICH sites.