earticle

영어

Since the Beijing Tourism Society first introduced the concept of “tourism culture” in the 1990s, the interdependence between culture and tourism has become an established premise in China’s development strategy. The launch of the National Cultural Innovation Project in 2009 and the establishment of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2018 have further institutionalized the integration of cultural and tourism industries. As both cultural carriers and narrative media, film and television play a pivotal role in shaping local identity, disseminating cultural values, and stimulating tourism through symbolic representation. Drawing on Christian Metz’s theory of film narrative symbolism, this study investigates how narrative symbols—constructed through landscapes, language, characters, and cultural practices— mediate audience cognition, evoke emotional resonance, and transform intangible cultural meanings into tangible tourism resources. Using the Chinese television drama To the Wonder as a case study, the research analyzes how its ethnic and regional symbols are embedded within a cohesive narrative system that reinforces Altay’s cultural image and destination brand. Statistical data from Xinjiang’s tourism authorities show significant post-broadcast increases in visitor numbers and tourism revenue, underscoring the measurable economic impact of such symbolic constructions. Comparative cases, including Avatar and Blossoms, demonstrate that while tourism promotion often emerges as an unintended byproduct of narrative symbolism, its occurrence is grounded in an inherent semiotic logic that can be strategically leveraged. This paper addresses a gap in the literature by focusing on the symbolic mechanisms through which visual narratives contribute to tourism culture dissemination—an area often overlooked in existing research, which has primarily concentrated on destination imagery and tourist behavior. By combining literature review and case study methods, the findings provide theoretical insight into the structural coupling between cultural symbol reproduction and the enhancement of tourism space value, offering practical guidance for the coordinated development of visual media, cultural industries, and tourism. Ultimately, this study not only enriches the semiotic analysis of film-induced tourism but also offers a replicable framework for leveraging cultural narratives in regional branding and sustainable tourism development. The research further underscores the necessity of cross-sector collaboration among media producers, cultural policymakers, and tourism stakeholders to maximize the socio-economic potential of narrative symbolism.