Drivers of Culture-Tourism Convergence: A Symbiosis Perspective from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, China

This study uses symbiosis theory to explore the driving mechanisms promoting cultural-tourism convergence (CTC) in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). The study conducts thematic coding and co-occurrence network analysis on multimodal data from 11 GBA cities: thematic coding is applied to identify 7 core themes driving CTC, while co-occurrence network analysis reveals the intrinsic correlations among these themes. These themes are: regional coordination mechanisms, policy support system, traffic conversion mechanism, community co-creation ecosystem, technology empowerment of industries, innovation in scene integration, cultural revitalization. These themes are further synthesized into four symbiotic mechanisms that operate horizontally across policy, industry, and experience levels, thereby promoting CTC in regions with diverse governance systems. Building on these findings, this study proposes an actionable operational framework tailored to the GBA, which is also transferable to other multicultural regions to strengthen interregional collaboration and advance sustainable CTC development.