Industrial Tourism in China’s Intelligent Factories: Emergence, Modes, and Constraints_Vol. 3 No. 4 (JTM 2026)_Journal of Tourism Management (ISSN: 3005-575X)

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Industrial Tourism in China’s Intelligent Factories: Emergence, Modes, and Constraints

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.62517/jtm.202613409

Author(s)

Jinjing Wang

Affiliation(s)

School of Tourism, Wuxi City College of Vocational Technology, Wuxi, Jiangsu, China

Abstract

Industrial tourism can be categorized into industrial heritage tourism and modern industrial tourism. Over the past few years, China has witnessed a new type of industrial tourism that focuses on smart factories. Visitors arrive to see how the production process is done, learn about it and experience it by doing so. The present article employs three case studies: Xiaomi Auto Factory, Haier Intelligent Manufacturing Experience Space, and BY-HEALTH Transparent Factory as starting points to trace the emergence of intelligent factory tourism and examine its working mechanisms and limitations. Three key factors have an impact on the evolution of intelligent factory tourism in China, namely, the alteration of consumer demand, institutional support, and corporate strategy. There are currently three models; attracting attention through visits; Incorporating visits into the ecosystem; Build trust through transparency. Nevertheless, every model has its own contradictions. The demand of visitors may be high than the production capacity and hence it is hard to balance between openness and confidentiality and production order and tourism services are not necessarily coordinated. To demonstrate the selective display of the production process by enterprises, this paper presents the notion of production visibility.

Keywords

Industrial Tourism; Intelligent Factory; Smart Manufacturing; Production Visibility

References

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