Sustainable Digital Transformation of Heritage Tourism
Vinod Anand Bijlani
Abstract
Tourism has always meant big business. With the travel service sector being the economic backbone of several countries, heritage tourism becomes a key fiscal factor for growth. So far, technology in the travel and tourism industry primarily focused on customer engagement and service, aiming at a simplified digital experience from booking a trip and planning the itinerary to organizing payments and post-trip memories. However, with the world coming to terms with the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital heritage tourism becomes critical to local economies mainly to revive global interest and to keep domestic businesses going. A sustainable transformation to digital heritage tourism can support nations to vault over physical travel challenges during times such as these, and help governments collaborate with international organizations for positive future change.