Abstract

The aims of the paper is to confirm and explain how cultural tourism develops in the digital era. This study employs  a qualitative method using case study of cultural tourism destination in Saung Angklung Udjo (SAU), Bandung, West Java. The results show that the development of cultural tourism in SAU is in line with the rapid growth of digital technologies, particularly  Information and communications technology (ICTs) and Internet of Things (IoT).  Increasing the competency of human resources related to information and communication technology literacy has proven to have a positive impact on increasing tourist visits. SAU is able to use digital facilities as a medium of promotion, marketing and education through various digital platforms such as web sites, facebook, youtube, twitter, Instagram and various other social media facilities so that it impacts on the development of this tourist destination. This study expands the existing literature on cultural tourism, by looking into how the ICTs has influences the tourism business. It also develops a successful model of cultural tourism digital platform. The findings provide an insight on how digital means could be utilized to develop a successful cultural tourism destination for business tourism, particularly for those that operated within the same locations, as they may possess the similar cultural values. This is important as it shows how cultural wealth can be protected, developed and promoted more widely through various digital platforms that have an impact on improving the welfare of society.

Keyword: Internet of Things, Digital Tourism, Cultural Tourism, Social Media