Jul 2026· The Heritage· Vol 9, pp. 269· 1 citation· 37 references
TL;DR
TalkCorfiota, a conceptual framework that integrates AR, conversational AI, geolocation services, and cultural storytelling to support language tourism experiences centered on the Corfiot dialect, is proposed.
Abstract
Language tourism combines language learning with cultural exploration and offers new opportunities for engaging visitors with local linguistic heritage. Recent advances in Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have enabled the development of immersive tourism experiences; however, their application to low-resource dialects remains limited. This paper proposes TalkCorfiota, a conceptual framework that integrates AR, conversational AI, geolocation services, and cultural storytelling to support language tourism experiences centered on the Corfiot dialect. Drawing upon situated learning, experiential learning, and digital heritage perspectives, the framework conceptualizes dialect learning as a form of heritage interpretation through which visitors engage with local identity, collective memory, and place-based cultural narratives. The proposed architecture combines location-aware cultural exploration, AR-enhanced contextual interaction, and AI-supported conversational engagement within a unified tourism ecosystem. The framework is supported by a structured linguistic resource developed during the course of this study from publicly available repositories of the Corfiot dialect. The primary contribution of this research is the conceptual design of the TalkCorfiota architectural framework, which is the foundation for future development and evaluation on AR- and AI-supported language tourism applications for low-resource dialects.
Tourism language learning often relies on decontextualized materials that provide limited exposure to local narratives. This study explores the use of toponymy-based digital storytelling for tourism language learning by integrating local place names, migration history, and cultural narratives into interactive digital materials. Using a qualitative approach, toponymic data were collected through in-depth interviews with traditional leaders in Cikoneng Village, Banten, supported by field observations and documentation. The collected narratives were transformed into bilingual digital storytelling materials using Google My Maps. The participants consisted of 30 fourth-semester students enrolled in an English for Business and Professional Communication program who engaged in the digital storytelling activities. Data were analyzed using an interactive model that included data reduction, data display, and conclusion verification. The findings show that the toponymy of Cikoneng Village reflects the cultural interaction and migration history of Sundanese, Javanese, and Lampung communities. The digital storytelling activities enabled learners to connect language learning with local cultural narratives, spatial information, and tourism-related communication. The study demonstrates that toponymy-based digital storytelling can support contextual and culturally grounded tourism language learning through interactive place-based narratives.
L. Wulandari, Nur Hasyim· Edulite: Journal of English...· 0 citations
A new framework for GAI-driven SGE is presented, highlighting three central aspects: personalization, real-time support and contextual relevance, and its difficulty in replicating the emotional connections, cultural understanding and narrative immersion that human guides provide.
Dušan Mladenović, A. Peštek, K. Eluwole· Journal of Tourism Futures· 0 citations
Against the background of cultural digitization, smart tourism, and generative artificial intelligence, cultural-tourism apps are evolving from simple information inquiry tools into integrated service systems that combine cultural cognition, route planning, immersive experience, personalized recommendation, and user co-creation. The conventional linear UI design process, which mainly relies on user research, information architecture, visual design, and usability testing, is insufficient to support dynamic optimization when facing complex cultural resources, diversified tourist needs, uncertain AI-generated content, and continuous platform operation. Based on Zhao Chao’s Train-Develop-Redefine (TDR) intelligent diamond model, and drawing on studies of user experience in cultural-tourism digital products, interface design for linear cultural-heritage digital museums, and AI-driven interface design, this paper constructs an interaction interface design path for cultural-tourism apps consisting of cultural training, human-AI collaborative generation, feedback-based redefinition, and value gate control. The study argues that the intelligent design of cultural-tourism apps should not be reduced to functional accumulation or visual decoration; rather, it should take cultural accuracy, user comprehensibility, interaction controllability, and data governance as core constraints. Through collaboration among human designers, AI systems, cultural experts, operators, and users, the app experience can be extended from “seeing culture” to “understanding culture, participating in culture, generating content, and sharing feedback.” The proposed model and indicator system provide methodological references for information architecture, AI function design, interface evaluation, and continuous iteration of cultural-tourism apps.
Tian-Tian Li· Advances in Engineering Tech...· 0 citations
This paper examines the transformative role of the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai (NSCM), as a driver of tourism, education, and cultural enrichment. By analyzing visitor statistics and programmatic innovations from 2017 to 2024, the study positions NSCM as a model for museum-driven development within the global context. Strategic collaborations with travel agencies have enhanced NSCM's visibility, positioning it as a prominent destination for cultural and educational tourism. These partnerships have effectively bridged the gap between leisure travel and experiential learning, attracting diverse visitor demographics. NSCM has successfully integrated its exhibits and programs into educational frameworks, fostering a culture of curiosity and scientific literacy among students. Its adoption of hybrid learning models and experiential pedagogy has enriched formal education while inspiring youth engagement with science. The centre has played a pivotal role in embedding a culture of tourism in society by emphasizing the value of museums as spaces for public learning and engagement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, NSC adapted swiftly with virtual programs, demonstrating resilience and reinforcing the societal importance of museums. Through quantitative analysis and predictive modeling, this study highlights NSCM's contribution to Mumbai's tourism ecosystem and its broader implications for cultural development. The findings underscore how science museums can catalyze tourism growth while fostering education and community engagement, setting a benchmark for similar institutions worldwide.
T. Moharana, Anindita Mondal· International Journal of Hos...· 0 citations
Against the background of deepening culture–tourism integration and growing concern for cultural sustainability, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) educational tourism has become an important means of connecting cultural communication, educational practice, and tourism experience. Taking Hebei Province as a case, this study combines a document and data review, a questionnaire survey (N = 204), and semi-structured interviews (N = 12) to examine representative practices, user perceptions, and implementation contexts. The findings were synthesized across visual, experience, and product design. Although Hebei has developed diverse forms of ICH educational tourism, weaknesses remain in visual identity and information guidance, learning tasks and feedback, and products that support cultural understanding, preserve outcomes, and sustain post-activity engagement. Process participation and immersive experience, together with visual and information design, were consistently and positively associated with overall evaluation. The interviews identified further barriers involving the learning thread, connections among touchpoints, and post-activity product use. Drawing these findings together, the study adapts Garrett’s five-plane model to the context of ICH educational tourism and develops strategies across the strategy, scope, content, interaction, and surface layers. The resulting framework provides a design basis for Hebei and a methodological reference for comparable regions.
Shan Cong, Yiran Yuan, Lu Wang et al.· Sustainability· 0 citations
Regional culture is increasingly treated as a design resource in wellness tourism, where destinations embed local symbols in intelligent environments to differentiate their offerings; yet the mechanism by which such symbols become embodied cognitive events and translate into user experience value remains underspecified. This study integrates embodied cognition, cultural semiotics, and environmental psychology to construct a four-stage activation model—symbol stimulus, somatic perception, cognitive processing, and experience generation—and develops a moderated mediation framework in which intelligent environment design conditions the symbol-to-experience pathway across presentation, perception augmentation, and feedback regulation layers. A mixed-methods design was implemented at four regionally distinct wellness tourism sites (Wuyi tea retreat, Naxi botanical center, Jiangnan AR-augmented garden resort, and Shandong Confucian pavilion), combining 407 valid questionnaires, biometric monitoring of 128 participants, and 36 in-depth interviews. Structural equation modeling indicates that embodied multisensory activation is associated with roughly 70% of the stimulus-to-cognitive-depth pathway as an estimated indirect effect, with ritual-behavioral and botanical-olfactory symbols showing steeper transmission than material-artifactual ones. Moderated mediation analysis suggests that a higher level of intelligent environment application is associated with stronger, rather than weaker, embodied uptake within the observed coupling range, although this association operates asymmetrically across the three design layers. Because the questionnaire data are cross-sectional and visitors encountered site-specific symbols under naturalistic rather than randomized exposure—with the biometric subsample drawn from consenting volunteers and the mediator and moderator measured, respectively, through validated self-report scales and independent site-level expert ratings—the findings are read as associations consistent with the proposed mechanism rather than as causal proof. The findings advance mechanism-level understanding of how regional culture drives intelligent environment design in wellness tourism spaces and offer design heuristics for segmenting symbol programming, prioritizing perception-augmentation investment, and calibrating technological coupling against the saturation boundary of user experience.
