Digital technology has been increasingly applied in the traditional tourism forms, including the heritage tourism. However, the role of technology and tradition for attracting tourists in industrial heritage tourism destinations has not been clearly identified. To narrow the research gaps, this study adopted a two stage study, based on grounded theory and factor analyses. In Study 1, through the data analysis of 60 in-depth interviews, 10 stimuli factors in 3 categories were identified. In Study 2, a questionnaire was developed based on the results of Study 1, through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we established and tested a model of on-site stimulus factors. Findings can deepen the understanding of industrial heritage tourism from a tourist perspective and offer practical implications.

Value creation is essential for successfully operating a firm and becomes a critical issue for realizing cross-firm competition and industrial performance distinctions. Tourism scholars have viewed tourism value-chain (TVC) as a useful tool to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of performance through controlling the impact factors in tourism products and services. However, few extant studies focus on the works of performance measurement in the tourism industry. This study applies Yilmaz and Bititci’s (2006 a, b) concept to develop novel performance measurement and value creation indicators for industrial tourism and customers through a crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). The QCA approach considers asymmetric relationships—reporting conditions that are sufficient or necessary to cause an outcome condition. QCA allows exploring the causal-effect relationship between the variables. In-depth interview with five senior managers and five customers were conducted. The QCA results showed that industrial tourism and customer performance indicators have complex links with value creation. The main theoretical contributions of this study extends through four stages of TVC on both manufacturing and industrial tourism, developing causal-effect connections of industrial tourism, and customer performance on value creation. The study describes how proprietors and service providers promoted brand identification and firm’s reputation for achieving industrial tourism value. The findings beneficially provide practical implications for proprietors and customers for applying performance indicators once aiming to develop an appropriate marketing strategy and create industrial tourism and customer values.