This paper aims to deal with the limitations of data preprocessing methods in the comprehensive evaluation of complex index system, especially for the evaluation of complex fields such as the culture and tourism integration, and regional innovation. To further improve the benchmarking method, we study the applicability of discursive benchmarking method, follow the general principles of comprehensive index evaluation, and propose taking the benchmarking value as the basis of weight allocation to determine the benchmarking coefficient, and construct the “benchmarking coefficient·benchmarking value” assessment method. Taking the old revolutionary base areas of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing and Guizhou as the case study, our research included 80 counties (cities, districts). Using the improvement method, the paper empirical measures the level of the integration effects of red culture and tourism from 2013 to 2022, and compares the evaluation results with the established methods. The results confirm the superiority of the improvement methods in the evaluation of the integration effects of red culture and tourism. It is mainly reflected in the rationality of the index weights, the consistency of the evaluation results with the reality, and the comparability and stability of the evaluation results. The “benchmarking coefficient·benchmarking value” approach enriches comprehensive evaluations, offering novel insights for accurately assessing complex systems like the integration of culture and tourism and regional innovation.

Short videos have become a crucial tool for publicized tourism destinations, however, quantifying the symbols perception of short videos scientifically remains a challenging research area. In this study, drawing on the Symbolic Interaction Theory and focusing on the context of ethnic villages tourism, we develop a measurement scale for symbols perception through a combination of content analysis and quasi-experimental methods. The results show that: (1) Symbols in tourism short videos of ethnic villages can be divided into three categories: characters, images, and sounds. (2) The symbols perception in tourism short videos of ethnic villages can be measured across eight dimensions, including blogger symbols, village residents’ symbols, tourist symbols, ethnic cultural symbols, landscape symbols, textual symbols, music symbols and language symbols. (3) Symbols perception related to village residents and ethnic culture have the greatest impact, and the predictive validity of character symbols perception on tourism intention is significantly higher than that of image and sound symbol perception. Empirical research on symbol perception in the field of tourism short videos clarifies the dimensions of symbol perception in the context of ethnic village tourism, deepening the understanding of audience symbols perception, and providing important theoretical basis for marketing communication of ethnic village destinations on short video platforms.

With diverse types of tourism resources, the current national standards for resource classification are difficult to fully apply to all specific scenarios. Taking marine tourism resources as an example, this study explores the classification system construction ideas and methods for theme-oriented tourism resources, and empirically tests them in Penglai District in Yantai City, which is a coastal tourist destination and the Changdao Marine Ecological Civilization Comprehensive Experimental Area, an island tourist destination. The study finds that: (1) the construction of a theme-oriented tourism resources classification system can be achieved based on the idea of “attribute cognition, knowledge acquisition, relationship construction”. Attribute cognition, through the differentiation of the heterogeneity of conceptual connotation and spatial range, can define the type category of theme-oriented tourism resources. Knowledge acquisition, through the extraction of type concepts and their relationships, can provide a knowledge base for the construction of theme-oriented tourism resources classification. Relationship building, based on the “line-surface” combined classification method, establishes the hierarchical and inter-layer relationships of types, thereby constructing a classification system for theme-oriented tourism resources. (2) The classification methods for theme-oriented tourism resources can be summarized as: the classification of major categories based on the cognition of resource heterogeneity, the classification of main categories based on three methods of national standard citation, national standard recombination, and characteristic improvement. The classification of subcategories introduces the faceted classification, and the classification of basic categories based on the multidimensional attributes of types. (3) The case study empirically constructs a classification system for marine tourism resources composed of four levels, and the verification confirms that the proposed ideas and methods have strong scientific and applicability in constructing a theme-oriented tourism resources classification system. This study enriches the cognition and methods of tourism resource classification system, which can provide scientific reference for the research and practice of tourism resources protection and utilization.