Digitizing resources to serve the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage values and sustainable tourism
In the context of digital transformation becoming an inevitable trend, preserving and promoting cultural heritage values associated with tourism development cannot be limited to traditional methods but requires strong participation from science and technology. This was also the central topic discussed at the workshop "Preserving and promoting heritage values associated with sustainable tourism development" organized by the People's Committee of Ca Mau province on April 26th, within the framework of the 2026 Science, Technology, Culture, and Tourism Week.
Vice Chairman of Ca Mau Provincial People's Committee Ngo Vu Thang spoke at the workshop. (Photo: BN)
According to Ngo Vu Thang, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province, Ca Mau (after merging with Bac Lieu to form the new Ca Mau province) currently possesses a rich, diverse, and distinctive heritage system, with 112 classified historical sites and 8 intangible cultural heritage items.
This is a valuable resource, providing a foundation for developing green, experiential, and sustainable tourism products.
However, in practice, the exploitation of heritage values has not yet lived up to its potential; many heritage sites remain merely resources, not effectively transformed into high-value-added tourism products, resulting in limited visitor numbers and unmet revenue.
In this context, the workshop is expected to contribute to shaping a new approach in which science, technology, and especially digital transformation are identified as key drivers to "awaken" heritage values.
The application of digital technology not only helps improve the efficiency of managing, storing, and preserving heritage, but also opens up possibilities for connecting, promoting, and exploiting cultural values in a modern, flexible way that suits the needs of tourists.
At the workshop, experts and scientists focused on analyzing the current "bottlenecks" in the development of heritage tourism, including limitations in tourism spatial planning, lack of linkages between destinations, monotonous tourism products, and especially the low level of technology application.
Meanwhile, the demands of the tourism market are changing rapidly, requiring destinations to be able to provide timely information, diverse experiences, and high levels of interaction.
One of the topics of great interest to many delegates was solutions to enhance the digitalization of heritage resources for tourism management and development.
Accordingly, building a digital database of heritage sites, integrated on centralized management platforms, will help standardize information and support planning and decision-making. At the same time, technologies such as digital maps, virtual reality, augmented reality, multilingual automatic commentary systems, and smart tourism applications can be deployed to enhance the visitor experience, extend their stay, and increase spending.
Besides technological factors, opinions at the workshop also emphasized the role of the community in preserving and promoting heritage values. According to experts, to develop sustainable heritage tourism, it is necessary to ensure harmony between three elements: heritage sites - community - tourism. In this, local communities are not only the custodians of heritage but also need to participate directly in the exploitation, provision of services, and benefit from tourism activities.
In this case, digital technology can serve as a tool to connect the community with tourists through online platforms, digital tourism ecosystems, and modern promotional channels.