A framework for the relationship between psychological persuasion and empowerment towards sustainable heritage tourism: A case of seokguram grotto

Abstract

Natural calamities and human-induced threats are aiding to deteriorate cultural heritage sites around the globe. Sustainable heritage tourism is recognized as an economic activity that ensures to carefully manage the use of inherited environmental and socio-cultural assets for future generation and to attract visitors. Research indicates that heritage tourism is still at an early stage due to lack of empowerment of the local community in heritage sites. An efficient way to ensure sustainable heritage tourism is to preserve heritage sites digitally and present them to wider audiences. In this study, we present an alternate framework to analyze the relationship between psychological persuasion and empowerment for sustainable heritage tourism. To give further credence to the framework, we developed a digitization scheme for the digital reconstruction of Seokguram Grotto World Heritage Site and its 3D visualization, presented it, and conducted a survey. The survey results suggest that the digital representation considerably increases the significance of heritage sites by psychologically persuading individuals, and resultantly fostering empowerment for sustainable heritage tourism.