Estimating the Value of Cultural Heritage Creativity from the Viewpoint of Tourists

Creativity in cultural heritage raises expectations of added value, and helps promote local economic development through new elements introduced to the original cultural industry. The purpose of this study is to discuss the willingness to pay (WTP) for commercialization and creativity of cultural heritage. However, no general market price for cultural heritage exists. Thus, the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) in the non-market valuation method was applied to determine whether commercialization and creativity of cultural heritage through a personally inherent attitude and through different preferences could analyze the tourists’ willingness to pay, and to consider the factors that influence their WTP. In this study, 410 subjects were used for the CVM construction of the WTP based on three situations when cultural heritage and creativity are combined, as well as in the application of the double-bounded dichotomous choice model of survival analysis to estimate the WTP-influencing factors. The results showed that the higher the income of the subject, the higher of WTP for value-added services for preserving cultural heritage, participating in activities, and helping local development.