Research on the Mechanism of Cultural and Tourism IP Empowering the High-Quality Development of Urban Economy under the Perspective of Digital Economy

Take Henan Province as an Example

Abstract

Against the backdrop of the digital economy and the strategic importance of strengthening China's cultural power, cultural and tourism IP has become a crucial engine driving economic transformation and upgrading in regions rich in cultural resources. This paper integrates value chain theory with survival field theory. Based on panel data from 17 prefecture-level cities in Henan Province and 10 prefecture-level cities in Anhui Province from 2018 to 2023, it constructs a three-dimensional mechanistic model encompassing the "digital empowerment IP value chain, IP field value transformation, and high-quality development." This empirical research utilizes mediation effect testing, heterogeneity analysis, and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis ( fsQCA ). reconstructs the cultural and tourism IP value chain through the five core links of value mining, creation, dissemination, operation and monetization , and the contribution of data elements to IP value creation reaches 37.2%; cultural and tourism IP mainly empowers regional high-quality development through four paths of "innovation ecosystem cultivation, cross-industry integration, consumption scenario activation, and brand capital aggregation". Among them, the mediating effect values of industrial integration and consumption scenario activation are 0.213 and 0.187 respectively, indicating that the two are key mechanisms for value transmission; the interaction term between digital infrastructure and cultural resource endowment produces a significant positive regulatory effect (coefficient 0.089), which is particularly prominent in intangible cultural heritage activation IP and county-level IP. A comparative study of Henan and Anhui provinces shows that Henan excels in the explosive creative power of IP, while Anhui excels in sustainable IP operations and long-term value creation. Based on these findings, this article proposes a differentiated development strategy centered on "value chain collaboration, co-development of venues, and regional complementarity." This strategy provides a theoretical basis and practical paradigm for achieving high-quality IP-led development in regions with similar cultural resources.