Sense of Place of Heritage Conservation Districts under the Tourist Gaze—Case of the Shichahai Heritage Conservation District

Abstract

The tourists gaze can deeply trigger the most real thoughts and feelings in tourists’ hearts. The sense of place of Heritage Conservation Districts (HCDs) under the tourist gaze takes a mental perception of tourists’ feeling and is an important factor in the connection between values protection and development. Famous heritage districts function as important signs, causing the formation of mental images and an emotional sense of belonging to the place in tourists. The present research aims to determine a suitable methodology for recognizing the sense of place of HCDs under the tourist gaze. This study used image-based interviews through the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) and examined sense of place factors in the Shichahai HCD of Beijing. The result shows that the sense of place in the Shichahai HCD consists of three important factors, the physical environment, immaterial environment, and activity experience. We tested these factors as determinants in a sense of place model of tourist selection and emotional state during travel, exhibiting substantial explanatory potential. This study supports the idea that the sense of place of the Shichahai HCD under the tourist gaze can be re-made, and provides novel methods for evaluating the value of HCDs.