Digital Transformation in Cultural Tourism Management: Effects on Visitor Engagement and Destination Performance

Abstract

This paper will discuss how digital transformation projects in the management of cultural tourism affect the visitor experiences and the general performance of the destination. The study is based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Service-Dominant logic, which states that digital technologies, including smart tourism services, social media integration, data-driven personalization, and interactive digital services, are the strategic resources that will help increase visitor interest and, consequently, promote stronger tourism outcomes at destinations. A quantitative research design was followed where the data were collected using a structured questionnaire to 412 domestic and international tourists in the major cultural destinations and the data were processed using a Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling this is the PLS-SEM. Measurement model had good reliability and validity (Cronbachs alpha and Composite reliability are above 0.70; AVE is above 0.50) and the structural model showed that digital transformation has significant positive impacts on visitor engagement (B = 0.62, p = 0.001) and the performance of the destination (B = 0.34, p = 0.01). The effect of the visitor engagement on the destination performance (0.49, p < 0.001) was also positive and partly mediated between the digital transformation and the performance. The model accounted 38 percent of the variation in visitor engagement and 57 percent of the variation in destination performance which means that the model can predict a lot. The results indicate that strategic digital infrastructure and interactive technologies investment boost the experience value, tourist-destination bonds, and competitive advantage. The proposed study is relevant to the literature on tourism and cultural management as a digitally mediated engagement–performance framework, supported by the MEM digitally, which yields empirical evidence of the validity of the framework, and provides practical recommendations appropriate to the destination manager to use the digital transformation as a sustainable growth driver.