Cultural heritage interpretation and tourists’ historical empathy: the role of imagination level, destination image proximity and text direction

ABSTRACT Tourists’ historical empathy is essential for gaining a comprehensive understanding and in-depth experience of heritage sites; however, the extent to which the content of cultural heritage interpretation influences their historical empathy is still unknown. To clarify the impact of interpretation (knowledge- and affection-based content) on tourists’ historical empathy at cultural heritage sites, three situational experiments were conducted. The results suggest that affection-based interpretation contributes to a greater degree of tourists’ historical empathy than knowledge-based interpretation content. Additionally, the imagination level plays a significant mediating role throughout the process. The moderating effects of destination image proximity and text direction are also examined. Finally, practical implications were provided for optimizing the design of interpretation for cultural heritage sites.