Citation: Song, L.; Li, R.Y.M.; Wareewanich, T. The Cultivation Effect of Architectural Heritage YouTube Videos on Perceived Destination Image. Buildings 2023, 13, 508. https://doi.org/10.3390/ buildings13020508 Academic Editor: Davide Settembre-Blundo Received: 1 January 2023 Revised: 27 January 2023 Accepted: 8 February 2023 Published: 13 February 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). buildings Article The Cultivation Effect of Architectural Heritage YouTube Videos on Perceived Destination Image Lingxi Song 1 , Rita Yi Man Li 2, * and Thitinant Wareewanich 1 1 Chakrabongse Bhuvanarth International Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies, Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-Ok, Bangkok 10400, Thailand 2 Sustainable Real Estate Research Center, Department of Economics and Finance, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong 999077, China * Correspondence: ymli@hksyu.edu Abstract: A positive and robust destination image endows a competitive advantage. As architecture appeals to tourists, it may be helpful to improve people’s perceptions of a place’s image. Social media cultivates the destination image. This study focused on the interrelationship of architectural heritage and destination image and aimed to investigate the potential of architectural heritage YouTube videos in communicating and cultivating the destination image of Beijing. It collected and analysed 2237 YouTube videos in French and 25,234 comments related to Beijing’s architectural heritage in tourism. The social networks analysis found that viewers lacked interaction. The sentiment analysis via artificial intelligence findings demonstrate that most video descriptions (94%) and viewers’ comments (91%) had a neutral or complimentary attitude on the buildings’ heritage in Beijing. The keyword in context (KWIC) results found that when people viewed Beijing’s architectural heritage tourism relevant videos and were fascinated by the content, they associated it with China rather than the city where the architectural heritage was located. This indicates a cultivation effect on the destination country image of China. The significance of this study is to provide suggestions to improve a country’s destination image with YouTube via architectural heritage. It also raises the importance and social awareness of architectural heritage conservation and provides insights for policymakers on destination country image building. Keywords: architectural heritage; destination image; YouTube; social network analysis; sentiment analysis; artificial intelligence; KWIC 1. Introduction Architectural and historical assets portray cultural heritage [1]. Architecture can serve as a medium for country promotion and a symbol of territorial identity [2]. Among the various aspects of cultural heritage studied in several countries, historical architecture, castles, and museums have been identified as fascinating places that attract tourists world- wide. Scholars have found that architectural heritage appeals to tourists and improves perceptions of place image [3,4]. The essence of understanding, defining, and interpreting living heritage for future generations is thus associated with illustrating the relationship between the architectural heritage and the tourists’ perception [3,5]. Destination image is essential in destination choice decision making, brand differenti- ation, and marketing [6]. Being competitive and differentiating themselves in the market is necessary for destinations [6], given that tourists desire more genuine and unique expe- riences [7]. Previous research showed that the destination image perceived by people is constantly evolving. At the same time, a nation’s history and culture have become a signif- icant part of reality that subsequent generations cannot change [8]. Marketing materials are used as representative symbols in tourism discourse to shape tourists’ interpretation of a destination image [9]. The role of information in portraying the destination image is Buildings 2023, 13, 508. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020508 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings