Color Environment Characteristics and Tourist Perceptual Mechanisms in a Heritage Tourism Destination: Subjective and Objective Evidence and Renewal Implications from Taoyangli, Jingdezhen

In heritage tourism destinations, color contributes to both the visual quality of individual scenes and the continuity of the visitor route. Using Taoyangli in Jingdezhen as a case, this study examined how perceived color harmony, contrast, and continuity relate to visual comfort, spatial legibility, and behavioral intention, while objective color analysis was used to characterize spatial conditions. PLS-SEM was applied to 577 valid tourist questionnaires, and objective color metrics were derived from 40 on-site scenes. Among the perceptual dimensions, color harmony was most strongly associated with visual comfort, whereas color continuity was most strongly associated with spatial legibility. Perceived color contrast showed no significant overall association with visual comfort, spatial legibility, or behavioral intention. The objective color results showed that entrance and gateway spaces had relatively high scene-level harmony proxy values but the weakest continuity between adjacent views. Street and alley connection spaces and core heritage spaces showed more stable route-level relationships, while mixed commercial and exhibition spaces had the strongest composite contrast. Across all four spatial types, low- to moderate-saturation gray, gray-brown, and warm-brown tones formed the common color base. Heritage color renewal should therefore preserve historic material colors, maintain recognizable transitions along visitor routes, and use stronger contrast selectively at entrances, wayfinding points, and exhibition focal points.