Destination Management Organisations and the role of digital storytelling for Literary Tourism

Tourism scholars are well-versed in the "reservoir of cultural understanding" (Robinson, 2002; 3) that has been depicted through the production of literature, the crafting of words, and the creation of literary places. Their understanding of literary tourism has evolved since Butler's (1986) widely accepted study was published, and the themes and types of literary tourism began to emerge. The expansion of literary tourism knowledge has now been reviewed by many, including Çevik (2020), whose paper details a literary tourism framework and outlines the research potential of literary tourism for both literary sites and destinations. However, for others (Zhang & Ramayah, 2024), it is how these stories of place are shared where a mystery remains and may continue to linger due to the complexity of the storytelling process and the sustained financial pressures imposed upon Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) in the UK (Tourism Management Institute, 2025).

Focusing then on destination management, this article provides insight into the value and importance of digital storytelling for destination managers, even in the face of budget constraints. By utilising digital platforms for storytelling, destination managers can generate insight about visitors' online and onsite behaviour, alongside their movement to, within and beyond a literary place through the collection and dissemination of "destination intelligence data" (Geotourist, 2024). This opens up conversations around the art of storytelling and how storytelling has evolved as a creative art form by adapting to the digital age (Nabirye, 2025); keeping true to what Busby (2018; 62) declared - that "literary tourism is, axiomatically, about creativity and imagination".

How visitors choose to consume literature has evolved, a writer's ability to publish their work has become simpler, and within England, DMOs are being guided to take a regenerative approach towards destination management (VisitEngland, 2025). These circumstances coalesce to emphasise a desire for co-created, co-designed, and co-produced tourism products – including literary tourism sites and destinations. This is important to note, as whilst the purpose of consuming stories has remained the same, for many, the mode of consumption has become varied and customised to individual preferences. Those who consume literature can still gain knowledge and understanding through both fictional and factual representations of people and place, but now they can choose the mode (i.e., text, audio, visual, holographic) and format (i.e., digital or physical form) through which they consume these stories. This evolution of creative, technological innovation has unlocked new opportunities for destination managers to curate and share narratives linked to literary greats alongside local storytellers; by using digital technology to tell purposive stories that have the power to reshape global narratives (Nabirye, 2025). By unlocking the voices of local authors, "digital storytelling's role as a transformative medium" (Nabirye, 2025; 35) for literary tourism can be understood, as texture, richness, and complexity are added to a literary destination's identity. Local authors can write about their personal experiences and portray local issues. They can offer an authentic interpretation of community life by curating stories to form community connections in place and between non-visitors. Local authors can therefore be included in the curation of a storyworld, which influences how a literary tourist discovers, perceives, and feels towards visiting a literary destination. From a destination management perspective, this means that stories from the community can be held by the DMO to support a living systems approach (Dredge, 2022) and involve participatory storytelling techniques, such as those identified by Peimani and Kamalipour (2025), to co-produce place-based narratives that combine traditional narrative techniques with modern technology. Thus, creating a representation of the community through literary tourism via "new avenues for enhancing destinations" that develop practices to "bolster local culture, economy, and natural habitats" (VisitEngland, 2025) in a powerful way, as opposed to a narrative being devised, induced and imposed upon the destination by the DMO (Gunn, 1988).

By curating a destination storyworld from multiple actors (Moscardo, 2020), potential destination-based cultural capital (Busby & Meethan, 2008) can be unlocked, direct income for local storytellers can be generated (Geotourist, 2024), and an array of distinct and unique stories from the place can be shared to appeal to literary tourists. It is here, then, where digital storytelling platforms can act as a powerful tool for delivering sustainable, regenerative development of literary tourism. After all, 'a destination storyworld is more than just stories told by tourism staff' (Moscardo, 2020; 6).

Digital storytelling platforms can enrich a DMO's understanding of a literary tourist's experience. For example, literary trails have been packaged (Busby, 2018; MacLeod, 2012) for many years and developed as "linear visitor attractions" (Timothy & Boyd, 2003, cited in MacLeod, 2021) to entice visitors. These stories lead visitors to and around places connected to famous authors, such as the Lake District, where Hamilton and Roberts (2014; 75) encourage readers to walk around literary landscapes that "inspired some of our great literature". But the impact of these stories has not been effectively quantified at the destination level. Instead, destination managers have been left to rely on qualitative insights to convey the value of storytelling and recommending travel (Zhang & Ramayah, 2024). Visitors can choose to travel more freely and use their "smartphone and the free Geotourist app to uncover more about authors, writers, poets and playwrights" (UK Inbound, 2019). For example, literary tourists can travel around Northern Ireland to explore Ulster's Giants and literary heroes (Geotourist, 2019). Technological innovations have therefore enabled visitors to explore and engage with places of interest at their own pace, and for personalised reasons. Be that to (re)discover literary greats, or explore stories curated by local writers. Furthermore, technology has opened up these places to individuals who cannot travel, allowing them to become immersed in literary experiences, despite their personal circumstances.

Technological advancement means that how destinations determine the true value of storytelling has fundamentally shifted. Echoing the shift from analogue to digital means of communication, a change from the unknown to the known has been initiated, altering the significance of markers and semiotic signs that provide visitors with meaning about places they visit (MacCannell, 1999). In this case, a visitor's engagement with literary trails was assumed, not quantified. Meaning their engagement with stories was untraceable beyond the purchase of a text or the count of footfall in specific areas within a snapshot of time. Now, by utilising a digital platform to host literary content, the engagement of users can be traced and interpreted by managers, as they examine online, onsite, real-time, in-person, and "armchair mode" engagement with their trails. Data generated through digital platforms can therefore quantify the nature of a literary tourist's engagement with literary markers, and, for destination managers, "destination intelligence data" (Geotourist, 2024) can determine the nature of movement and value of literary tourists before, during, and after their visit to a specific destination. By establishing a free-to-access "audio guide to the world", Geotourist (2024) is now able to quantify the significance of digital storytelling as a narrative exercise and determine the true value of narratives and stories locally. The engagement and movement of users are captured through tour analytics and shared via a data dashboard licence, which enables creators to determine "global visitor attributes" and provides "dynamic location-engagement data," while also measuring "footfall and performance" (Geotourist, 2024) in real-time. By generating actionable data at a granular level, Geotourist (2024) provide insights that enable destination managers to identify popular points of interest, optimise visitor flow, and tailor marketing strategies to literary tourists, should they wish to. Furthermore, the Return on Investment (ROI) of literary marketing campaigns can be measured, and the convergence of views to visit established. This allows managers for the first time to understand the true impact of literary tourism through digital platforms. However, caution is required because digital storytelling should not merely be seen as a destination branding exercise (Hay et al., 2022). Instead, the role of digital tools should be seen as an opportunity for the value of storytelling to be understood and become influential upon future decision-making, as called for by Zhang and Ramayah (2024), and explored and evaluated by Semley (2024; forthcoming).

Consequently, through the production of literature, the crafting of words, and the creation of literary places, how stories are shared, consumed, and influence travel no longer needs to remain a mystery. DMOs can represent, co-create with, and curate the work of multiple authors to form a destination storyworld that articulates a consistent and transparent image of place. The rich insights of and from place can then be utilised to inform place-based decision-making and enable the DMO to remain agile despite the sustained financial pressures found in the UK. More specifically, by utilising pre-existing free platforms, DMOs can easily share content about literary sites and destinations with literary tourists in a bid to move towards delivering regenerative destination management via new, data-driven and creative ways of working with people and place.

How to cite this entry: Semley, N. (2025). Destination Management Organisations and the role of digital storytelling for Literary Tourism. In R. Baleiro, G. Capecchi & J. Arcos-Pumarola (Eds.), E-Dictionary of Literary Tourism. University for Foreigners of Perugia. https://doi.org/10.34623/zdg2-hn59