From Viral Fame to Enduring Appeal: The Making of Sustainable Cultural and Tourism Consumption Scenes in Jimei District, Xiamen

Abstract

Represented by the Jimei School Village, the Ten-Mile Causeway, and the core area of Jimei New Town, Jimei District of Xiamen has formed a cluster of new cultural and tourism consumption scenes of paradigmatic significance. Taking Jimei as a case and drawing on scene theory and the experience economy, this article adopts a speculative-analytical approach to dissect, layer by layer, the generative logic of new cultural and tourism consumption scenes. The study argues that the competitiveness of new scenes lies not in spectacular landscapes but in the density of relationships: traffic is a victory of visibility, whereas retention is a victory of relationality. The Jimei experience reveals a coupling mechanism among four logics—media visibility, emotional healing, the reproduction of place-ness, and governance-operation—zwhile also exposing four latent risks: the tides of traffic, scene homogenization, host–guest dislocation, and emotional overdraft. Accordingly, the article proposes a governance shift from building scenes to cultivating scenes, providing a reference for local governments seeking to foster a sustainable cultural and tourism consumption ecosystem.