“…This paper builds on existing efforts in niche tourism, including animal-based tourism (Bertella, 2014; Margaryan et al, 2022; Ong, 2017; Porter, 2018; Xu et al, 2015), nature-based (Duffy, 2015) and geological tourism (Jutla, 2000) and more broadly, studies in China’s sightseeing (Lian and Yu, 2019; Xu and Li, 2021) and domestic tourism (Liang and Bao, 2015; Ong and Liu, 2022; Tian et al, 2021). Since the new millennium, Chinese domestic tourism has blossomed, bringing forth new products and forms alongside the surge in relevant research in the past 20 years.…”