Analyzing Tourist Perception of Heritage Destinations Using Semantic Network and Sentiment Analysis

Huajun Zheng; Xin Lin; Yuanlin Wu

doi:10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_86

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Analyzing Tourist Perception of Heritage Destinations Using Semantic Network and Sentiment Analysis

Authors

Huajun Zheng¹, Xin Lin¹, Yuanlin Wu²^{, *}

¹Guangzhou Vocational University of Science and Technology, Guangzhou, 510550, China

²Guangdong Mechanical and Electrical Polytechnic, Guangzhou, 510550, China

^*Corresponding author. Email: scholars510@163.com

Corresponding Author

Yuanlin Wu

Available Online 30 July 2026.

DOI: 10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_86 How to use a DOI?
Keywords: Tourist perception; Heritage tourism; Lingnan ancient towns; Text mining; Sentiment analysis
Abstract: Using user-generated online reviews, this study examines tourists’ cognitive and affective perceptions of Shawan Ancient Town, a representative Lingnan heritage destination in southern China. Based on 3,407 reviews collected from major Chinese travel and social media platforms between 2022 and 2025, the analysis integrates word frequency analysis, semantic network analysis, and sentiment analysis. The results show that tourists’ perceptions are centered on cultural–historical attributes, with heritage architecture and cultural atmosphere forming the cognitive core, while experiential and consumption-related elements are closely interconnected. Overall emotional evaluations are predominantly positive, whereas negative sentiments mainly relate to commercialization intensity, pricing, crowding, and management issues. By combining perception structure analysis with affective evaluation, this study extends heritage tourism research to Lingnan ancient towns and provides practical insights for balancing cultural preservation and tourism development.
Copyright: © 2026 The Author(s)
Open Access: Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title: Proceedings of the 2026 11th International Conference on Social Sciences and Economic Development (ICSSED 2026)
Series: Advances in Economics, Business and Management Research
Publication Date: 30 July 2026
ISBN: 978-94-6239-701-9
ISSN: 2352-5428
DOI: 10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_86 How to use a DOI?
Open Access: Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

ris enw bib

TY  - CONF
AU  - Huajun Zheng
AU  - Xin Lin
AU  - Yuanlin Wu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/30
TI  - Analyzing Tourist Perception of Heritage Destinations Using Semantic Network and Sentiment Analysis
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 11th International Conference on Social Sciences and Economic Development (ICSSED 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 833
EP  - 846
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_86
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-701-9_86
ID  - Zheng2026
ER  -

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