Investigating the tourism image of mountain scenic spots in China through the lens of tourist perception

A favorable tourism image of high-quality mountain scenic spots (HQMSS) is crucial for tourism prosperity and sustainability. This paper establishes a framework for investigating the tourism image based on cognitive-emotion theory and uses natural language processing (NLP) tools to clarify the cognition, emotion, and overall tourist image of the HQMSS in China from the perspective of tourist perception. This paper examines the multi-dimensional spatial differentiation of China’s overall image, including province, scenic spot scales, as well as the spatial pattern of the overall comprehensive tourism image. Strategies for comprehensively improving HQMSS’s tourism image are also formulated. The results show that: (1) The cognitive image of Chinese HQMSS is categorized into core and marginal images, and the core images such as scenery and cable car are the expression of the uniqueness of mountainous scenic spots. Additionally, the cognitive image is classified into six dimensions: tourism environment, tourism supporting facilities, tourism experience, tourism price, tourism service, and tourism safety. (2) Positive emotions are the dominant mood type of HQMSS in China, followed by neutral emotions, with negative emotions being the least frequent. Emotional images vary across dimensions, with tourism environment and tourism experience evoking relatively higher emotion. (3) The spatial pattern of HQMSS for each dimension at the national, provincial, and scenic scales is diversifying. This article provides a multidimensional perspective for investigating the tourism image of mountainous scenic spots, proposes targeted recommendations to improve the overall image of HQMSS in China, and can greatly contribute to the sustainable development of mountain tourism.