<p>This study utilizes tourists’ digital footprints and travel blog data to construct a dual analytical framework encompassing both behavioral and cognitive dimensions. Employing social network analysis methods, we systematically examine the influence mechanism of colonial imprint attractions on tourism flow network structures, with particular focus on tourists’ spatial behaviors to evaluate the position and attractiveness of colonial imprint attractions in post-colonial urban tourism flows. A multi-label classification method is used to analyze travel blog data and uncover the focal points of tourists’ interests. The purpose of this research is to reveal the impact of colonial imprint attractions on tourism in post-colonial cities and provide insights into how their potential value can be leveraged. Our findings demonstrate that regardless of whether colonial imprint attractions exhibit higher or lower node degree centrality compared to general attractions, their removal significantly weakens the cohesion and connectivity of tourism flow networks in post-colonial cities. Furthermore, we observe that tourists tend to focus more on immediate travel experiences while showing relatively lower perception of the historical values behind these attractions. This research offers a new perspective for further exploration of the role of colonial imprint attractions in the tourism industry and provides ideas on how to enhance these distinctive attractions to contribute to urban tourism development.</p>