TITLE:
Value Co-Creation and Regional Innovation Systems in Cultural Tourism: A Multifaceted Framework from a Historical Town
AUTHORS:
Baihui Du, Chunliang Chen
KEYWORDS:
Regional Innovation, Cultural Tourism, Value Co-Creation, Regional Innovation Systems, Intangible Cultural Heritage
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.3,
May
26,
2026
ABSTRACT: This study explores how cultural tourism in historical towns drives regional innovation through value co-creation mechanism, using Dali Ancient City as a case study. Integrating service-dominant logic and regional innovation systems, the study develops a multifaceted framework encompassing actor configurations, interactional dynamics, resource integration, and institutional arrangements. Based on qualitative case analysis, the findings identify key dimensions through which cultural tourism stimulates innovation and reveal a set of nested value co-creation mechanisms, including cultural and creative production, intangible cultural heritage revitalization, digital media promotion, educational tourism, wellness services, and performing arts integration. These mechanisms demonstrate how diverse actors collaboratively transform cultural, experiential, and symbolic resources into regional innovation outcomes. The study contributes to theory by conceptualizing value co-creation as a micro-foundation of regional innovation and by advancing a configurational understanding of innovation processes in cultural tourism contexts. It also offers industrial implications for designing multifaceted governance strategies to enhance regional innovation through cultural tourism.