Aojia Zhang, Honggen Xiao
This study investigates the transformative impact of digital technologies on sentimental engagement within cultural heritage tourism through a comprehensive analysis of online reviews. Employing sentiment analysis and natural language processing on a dataset comprising 22,920 reviews from prominent Chinese social media platforms, the research develops an Affective–Cognitive Framework integrating Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions and Lazarus’s Cognitive Appraisal Theory. The findings highlight that digital tools predominantly evoke positive emotions such as joy, anticipation, and trust, thereby enhancing tourists’ cultural appreciation and engagement levels. The neutral emotion of surprise often signifies the novelty of digital experiences, its valence dependent on tourists’ cognitive appraisals. Conversely, negative emotions like frustration and sadness typically stem from technical glitches, accessibility issues, and perceived lack of authenticity. By elucidating the interplay between cognitive evaluations and emotional responses in digitally mediated cultural heritage experiences, the proposed framework contributes a nuanced understanding of visitor experiences. This research integrates emotion-centered theoretical models with robust big data analytics to elucidate tourists’ sentiment dynamics in the realm of digitalised heritage sites. Furthermore, it provides actionable insights for cultural heritage stakeholders and technology developers, offering strategies to enhance visitor engagement, safeguard cultural integrity, and optimise digital interventions in heritage tourism management.