Sustainable, Regenerative, and Accessible Cultural Heritage Tourism through Digital Technologies

Digital technologies are reshaping how cultural heritage tourism (CHT) is experienced, managed, and preserved, making it one of the field’s most active and fast-moving areas of research. In recent years, rising sustainability challenges have positioned digital transformation as a catalyst towards sustainable CHT, supporting heritage protection, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and regenerative approaches. Advanced technologies - including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, big data, 3D technology and blockchain - foster digital transformation in CHT in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. They support accessibility and inclusivity at cultural heritage sites, transformative experiences for well-being, authentic interpretation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, while enabling innovative solutions and business models that preserve cultural resources at risk and promote environmentally responsible and socially conscious visitor’ behaviors and management practices. In doing so, digital technology drives the shift from net-zero to net-positive impacts, advancing the implementation of regenerative tourism in CHT destinations.

This Special Issue welcomes contributions that advance the understanding of how the digital transformation of CHT contributes to reconciling the protection of tangible and intangible cultural assets in the face of pressing sustainability challenges. It aims to advance critical debate on this theme through research that fosters interdisciplinary perspectives towards informing practices and policies. We welcome theoretical and empirical research including multiple methodologies (e.g., qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, participatory designs) from various geographies and focusing on applications of different digital technologies, including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, big data, 3D technology and blockchain. Potential areas of interest may include, but are not limited to:

● Digital applications and interventions promoting visitors’ environmentally responsible and socially conscious visitor behaviors
● Technology for fostering transformative visitor experiences and workers’ well-being
● Visitors’ emotional engagement in sustainable digital heritage experiences
● Digital solutions for the preservation, interpretation and storytelling of tangible and intangible cultural heritage
● Visitor experience design and design for all - accessibility and inclusivity through digital technologies
● Data-driven sustainable management of CHT destinations
● Sustainability communication and digital marketing for addressing information access, overcrowding, massification, loss of authenticity
● Strategic partnerships for digital transformation among CHT stakeholders
● Digital technologies for net-positive contribution to regenerative CHT
● Impact assessment and policy implications of digital innovation for sustainable CHT
● Critical discussions on application and implications of digital innovation for CHT stakeholders

Authors are welcome to submit articles presenting original studies or literature review work. Please consult the journal's information regarding Article Types, Author Guidelines, and Publishing Fees. Please contact the Editorial Office at ejcmp@frontierspartnerships.org for any query concerning this initiative.

Even though not mandatory, we encourage all interested researchers to submit a “manuscript summary” (max 1000 words) before submitting their manuscript. This summary should clearly outline the study’s objectives, main research questions, and findings or arguments. It should be grounded in a theoretical framework that draws on established scholarships in the field and situates the analysis within key debates and conceptual approaches. The methodology should provide sufficient detail on data collection and analytical procedures to ensure transparency and rigor.

Finally, it should emphasize the study’s contribution and originality, explaining how the work advances current knowledge, opens new perspectives, or challenges existing assumptions within the discipline.

Manuscript summaries do not have to coincide with the final abstract of the submitted manuscript.

Keywords: Cultural heritage tourism, Digital transformation, Sustainability, Regenerative tourism, Accessibility