A User-Experience-Based Design Framework for Intangible Cultural Heritage Educational Tourism: Toward Culturally Sustainable Communication in Hebei, China

Abstract

Against the background of deepening culture–tourism integration and growing concern for cultural sustainability, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) educational tourism has become an important means of connecting cultural communication, educational practice, and tourism experience. Taking Hebei Province as a case, this study combines a document and data review, a questionnaire survey (N = 204), and semi-structured interviews (N = 12) to examine representative practices, user perceptions, and implementation contexts. The findings were synthesized across visual, experience, and product design. Although Hebei has developed diverse forms of ICH educational tourism, weaknesses remain in visual identity and information guidance, learning tasks and feedback, and products that support cultural understanding, preserve outcomes, and sustain post-activity engagement. Process participation and immersive experience, together with visual and information design, were consistently and positively associated with overall evaluation. The interviews identified further barriers involving the learning thread, connections among touchpoints, and post-activity product use. Drawing these findings together, the study adapts Garrett’s five-plane model to the context of ICH educational tourism and develops strategies across the strategy, scope, content, interaction, and surface layers. The resulting framework provides a design basis for Hebei and a methodological reference for comparable regions.