Against the backdrop of the shift in the experience-oriented tourism paradigm and the growing desire of tourists for K-heritage amid the current crisis of local extinction in Korea, this study attempted to investigate the impact of the characteristics...
Against the backdrop of the shift in the experience-oriented tourism paradigm and the growing desire of tourists for K-heritage amid the current crisis of local extinction in Korea, this study attempted to investigate the impact of the characteristics of Korea heritage media art on content diffusion and tourist behavioral intentions through tourists' psychological reactions (location attachment, experience value).
In 2025, Korea is experiencing the K-heritage craze, and the number of visitors to the Korea Museum of Korea increased by more than 64% year-on-year to 2,708,800 in the first half of the year alone, and the sales of cultural products also increased by 34% to about 11.5 billion won. In line with the trend of 'M: Maximizing Localism' by the Korea Tourism Organization (2025), the Korea Heritage Administration (2025) has established a 'strategy to respond to Korea heritage at risk of local extinction'.
Modern tourism has shifted from simple 'viewing' to a process of creating various values such as emotion, learning, and meaning creation. In particular, the MZ generation values the immersive experiences they feel with their body and mind, and has a strong desire to communicate their experiences with others through SNS sharing. However, as it is difficult to satisfy the 'special experience needs' of modern tourists only with Korea heritage, Korea heritage media art as a 'physical experience' that combines reality and digital technology is attracting attention.
The study design is as follows. A structural equation model was used to investigate the influence structure of the six characteristics of Korea heritage media art (location, historicity, sensory stimulation, artistry, interactivity, and diversity) on content diffusion and tourist behavioral intention (revisit and recommendation) through place attachment and experience value. An online survey was conducted on 219 adults who had seen Korea heritage media art in 2025, and analyzed using SPSS 27.0 and AMOS 23.0.
The main research results are as follows. The subjects of the study were women (56.6%), 30s (39.7%), and college graduates or higher (65.3%), and the reliability and validity of all variables were secured, and the goodness-of-fit index of the model was confirmed to be at an acceptable level.
1) In the case of historical properties, there was a significant positive (+) effect on the attachment to the place, but the placeability did not have a significant effect.
2) Sensory stimulation and diversity had a significant positive (+) effect on experience value, but artistry and interactivity did not have a significant effect
3) Both place attachment and experience value had a significant positive (+) effect on content diffusion and tourist behavioral intention, and in particular, the influence of experience value on content diffusion (β=.567) was the largest.
4) The indirect effect of sensory stimulation and diversity on content diffusion and behavioral intention through experiential value was significant, but the path through which historicality mediates place attachment was not significant.
In other words, this study demonstrated a structural model that integrated historical and locational variables reflecting the specificity of Korea heritage by breaking away from the existing technology-oriented media art research. Historicality, a humanities background, proved to be a more decisive factor in the formation of place attachment than location, a physical environment. In addition, the importance of sensory stimulation and diversity was re-examined. The fact that sensory experiences that stimulate sight and hearing and the provision of various contents play a key role in forming the experience value of tourists suggests that the demand of modern tourists lies in a multi-layered and personalized experience beyond simple information delivery. The result that experience value has the greatest influence on content proliferation confirmed the strong tendency of modern tourists to actively share the values they experienced through SNS.
In conclusion, by reinterpreting the value of tradition with modern technology, media art can promote the influx of tourists, overcome the crisis of local extinction, and restore the cultural pride of the local community by activating the unique Korea heritage of each region as media art. In addition, it allows tourists to form an in-depth consensus with Korea's historical and cultural identity.
Therefore, Korea heritage media art can be a key strategic tool for revitalizing K-heritage tourism and, at the same time, an integrated solution for local regeneration and strengthening local communities
As a limitation of the study, it is difficult to generalize all generations due to the bias of samples due to online surveys, so it is necessary to secure various age groups in the future by conducting field surveys in parallel. It is necessary to subdivide items or input the level of prior knowledge as a control variable for the effect of rejected artistry and interactivity on experience value in the future.
Since detailed differences by region or type of heritage were not analyzed, a customized strategy can be derived through comparative analysis of differences in the effects of Korea heritage media art according to heritage types and regional characteristics in the future. Finally, the sale path between historicality and place attachment, which was rejected, needs to be re-verified by securing more samples.
In the future, policymakers and tourism workers need to strategically promote Korea heritage media art projects that provide modern experiences while preserving the cultural identity of the region based on the results of this study.