Research on the Development Path of Rural Cultural Tourism Industry Empowered by Intelligent Aesthetics: An Analytical Framework Based on Industrial Economics

Abstract

The rural cultural tourism industry has long been trapped by structural problems such as low added value, product convergence, and extensive operation. As an industrial practice integrating digital technology and the aesthetic economy, intelligent aesthetics offers new possibilities for overcoming these dilemmas. From the perspective of industrial economics, this paper examines the mechanisms and realization paths of intelligent aesthetics empowering the rural cultural tourism industry across four dimensions: consumer demand, product competition, business models, and benefit distribution. The study argues that the empowering effect of intelligent aesthetics on the rural cultural tourism industry does not depend on the sophistication of technology itself, but on whether technology can effectively reduce the industrialization transformation cost of cultural resources, create sustainable experience premiums, and build incentive-compatible multi-agent cooperation mechanisms. Drawing on practical evidence from multiple domestic cases, this paper further discusses the application conditions and limitations of models such as asset-light operation, platform-based integration, and composite benefit distribution.