Crafting Connection: Digital Storytelling in Community-based Tourism.

Crafting Connection: Digital Storytelling in Community-based Tourism.

Farhana Diana Deris¹*, Noorsidi Aizuddin Mat Noor², Angeline E. Basco^3
1Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
²Centre for Real Estate Studies (UTM CRES), Mass Appraisal, Housing and Planning Research Group, Real Estate Department, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia
³Hospitality and Business Management Department, Iloilo Science and Technology University, Burgos Street, Barangay Mabini-Plaza, La Paz, Iloilo City, Philippines

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.9020039

Received: 26 January 2025; Accepted: 30 January 2025; Published: 28 February 2025

ABSTRACT

That is, telling stories is a powerful way of sharing information about cultures and communities. As digital technologies proliferate, storytelling can be built, selected, and delivered more effectively and deeply. Digital storytelling can especially be used for designing and delivering stories for the purpose of introducing different cultures and for introducing them as tourism products to brand the cultural stories. The general aim of this research is to find out the important factors that influenced digital storytelling as a medium and create a model for the proper application of the tool in community-based tourism (CBT). Qualitative case studies were reviewed on selected CBT projects from Asia to identify common themes and best practices. Results of this study indicated a few major factors that can help guide future digital storytelling activities in CBT, serving as a guide for promoting and preserving local cultures. This is to ensure the culture and traditions of communities are authenticated and preserved in correct representation through their own narratives, and after realising that authentic and real-life stories are rich, they have high involvement of the communities. The use of multimodal materials in digital narratives ensures richer and interactive storytelling that is more appealing for emotional connection. The use of social networks is also vital for a wider and more global reach and communication. Key messages on sustainability in digital storytelling need to be included to foster responsible tourism, increase awareness and advocacy for the preservation of cultures and environment. Lastly, data analytics in CBT is also needed to refine the storytelling strategies.

Keywords— digital storytelling; community-based tourism; language and communication: community development

INTRODUCTION

Storytelling, a timeless method for sharing cultural values, traditions, and knowledge, has been vital to communities. Traditionally conveyed orally, stories preserved history, imparted life lessons, and strengthened social connections. This practice integrates cognitive and emotional elements, depicting a protagonist who faces challenges, makes difficult decisions, takes risks, and moves towards resolution or stability. Known as the hero’s journey, this narrative structure resonates globally due to its emotional appeal. Storylisteners respond by generating ideas, emotions, and actions, making storytelling a dynamic exchange where the listener’s reactions can actively shape the narrative and, at times, transform them into storytellers (Moreira et al., 2024).

Storytelling, a timeless method for sharing cultural values, traditions, and knowledge, has been vital to communities. Traditionally conveyed orally, stories preserved history, imparted life lessons, and strengthened social connections. With digital technologies, storytelling has evolved into digital storytelling, merging traditional narratives with multimedia elements like text, audio, video, and images. This transformation is particularly significant for community-based tourism (CBT), where digital storytelling serves as a bridge between cultural preservation and tourism promotion. It enables local communities to narrate their histories, showcase traditions, and engage with a global audience, fostering sustainable tourism practices. Despite its potential, there remains a gap in understanding how digital storytelling can be effectively utilised to balance tourism growth with cultural sustainability. This shift has expanded storytelling’s reach, enabling communities to share their cultural identities across geographical boundaries. (Coombs & Holladay, 2021; Doyle & Kelliher, 2022).

Community-based tourism (CBT) is a unique type of tourism, characterized differently from mass tourism, which integrates the general concept of sustainable development. The notion of CBT is reliant on the distinctive products that are offered in the region, and the local community must support tourism’s overall growth. Notably, CBT focused on empowering local development and experiencing the effects immediately on the economy. They must be involved in the planning and practical implementation process so that the local community can participate in decision-making. Finally, the community and visitors who interact directly must derive benefits in an equitable and fair way. Finally, CBT pays much attention to the participation and supervision of local stakeholders (community, civil society, private sector, and media) in planning, performing, monitoring, and evaluating projects as well as sharing the benefits of tourist development with all relevant stakeholders (Azwar et al., 2023; Noor et al., 2024).

Digital storytelling is now being used as a powerful means for supporting community-based tourism (CBT) by promoting regional cultures and customs in it. Storytelling acts as a marketing strategy in CBT as well as a way to keep communities’ cultural heritage intact (Moscardo, 2017). The proliferation of digital platforms, social media, and user-generated content has also minimised storytelling’s impact by giving communities more power to reach broader audiences and taking power from cultural narrative creation and sharing away from the gatekeepers (Kasemsarn et al., 2023).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Tools for digital storytelling have been so helpful in changing how stories are created and shared. However, while the accessibility of tools like Canva, Adobe Spark, and StoryMapJS democratises storytelling, the literature lacks critical discussion on the challenges faced by communities in adopting these tools effectively. Issues such as digital literacy, funding, and content authenticity remain underexplored. Existing studies highlight successful digital storytelling initiatives, such as the Panay Bukidnon in the Philippines and the Iban community in Malaysia, yet there is limited analysis of how these initiatives overcome technological and financial barriers. Additionally, while emotional engagement through multimodal elements is well-documented, the role of digital storytelling in shaping long-term tourism sustainability requires further examination. There is also insufficient discussion on how digital storytelling integrates with responsible tourism policies to prevent cultural commodification. Such tools include Canva, the easy-to-use platform that makes it quick and easy to tell visually compelling, personalised stories with customisable templates; Adobe Spark, where multimedia stories can be told seamlessly; StoryMapJS, a powerful tool for storytelling for locations; Wakelet, the simple way to curate and share the most shareable content; and Anchor, for podcast-style storytelling. Not only do these tools democratise storytelling and make it available to non-specialists, but they also create compelling mediums where community identities can be highlighted (in a visually as well as emotionally engaging manner).

Reaping benefits from storytelling in CBT is possible through communities that integrate this practice into their efforts. Say the Panay Bukidnon in the Philippines could use digital tools to pull in culturally curious travellers who would be interested in hearing its epic chants and viewing its crafts. Just like the Iban community in Sarawak, Malaysia, can tell their longhouse living tradition and weaving by their engaging narratives. For the Baduy tribe in Indonesia to continue practicing their spiritual practices and traditional clothing, and for Hmong communities in Vietnam to draw attention to their textiles and folklore, they can be narrated digitally. The nomadic food culture of the Yörük nomads in Turkey can leverage digital storytelling to disseminate their semi-nomadic life. Therein lies an opportunity to have these communities directly participate in storytelling initiatives that are simultaneously authentic and digitally sophisticated and able to simultaneously preserve heritage and generate income from tourism.

Literature on the potential of digital storytelling in CBT, however, recognises that deeper understanding of key elements to its success is needed. Good digital storytelling involves thinking carefully through the relevant context, artistic bent, and mastery of the culture and technology needed to execute. The significance of authenticity in digital storytelling is stressed by scholars, with it being believed that digital stories founded upon real experiences, facing local communities, will strike a chord with audiences and assist in encouraging lasting tourism (Zhang et al., 2019). In addition, the emotional appeal of stories can be further enhanced through the integration of multimodal elements (text, sound, and visuals) (Lambert, 2013). These stories reach our global audience in great part thanks to our modern social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, reinforcing their critical role in disseminating cultural narratives (Sigala, 2017). However, despite these achievements, there is still a lack of understanding about how digital storytelling may link with sustainability targets, such as responsible tourism meant to protect cultural heritage and ecological integrity (Weaver, 2018).

In order to address these challenges, research will need to highlight the features that contribute to successful digital storytelling in CBT. Community participation is crucial in co-creating narratives with other stakeholders of the local communities to honour the shared values and aspirations that should prevail. And equally important is driving partnerships with technology providers so that communities have the tools and skills for storytelling. Through analysing case studies of CBT projects in Asia, this study attempts to find out what the best practices are and which digital storytelling model can be adapted. The goal of the findings is to aid tourism operators, community leaders, and policymakers to use storytelling as a strategic weapon for sustainable tourism and cultural preservation.

 METHODOLOGY

A qualitative research approach was employed for this study through multiple case studies of community-based tourism projects across Asia. In particular, it analysed digital storytelling and cultural heritage in Sarawak, Malaysia (Qin et al., 2024), the Lasem Heritage Foundation, Indonesia (Intan et al., 2023), and the UNESCO Bangkok Heritage Project (Pattamon Runchavanont, 2024). The criteria for selection of case studies were the active mediation of local communities in the development of tourism, the use of digital storytelling as an integral part of tourism strategy, and the promotion of the cultural heritage. In the qualitative review, the key elements that contribute to effective digital storytelling were identified to be community involvement, authenticity, the use of multimodal materials, and social networks. Another section analysed sustainability messages and ways in which data analytics can be used for refining storytelling strategies. By utilising this comprehensive methodology, the capacity for using digital storytelling in delivering CBT was better understood. Digital storytelling in CBT was consequently explored through a thematic analysis to uncover important factors in the success of digital storytelling.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The findings and discussion section focuses on the significant factors that make digital storytelling effective in community-based tourism (CBT), highlighting more profound implications of how technology and narrative strategies can contribute to better cultural promotion and sustainability through Table 1. The role of authenticity and community involvement is one of the most significant findings. Local communities are more empowered to customise their cultural heritage to how they want it to feature in their stories when they play a role in the process. One of the most important things this agency does is fostering a sense of ownership and pride that is so critical to preserving authenticity.

Case study analyses reveal that successful digital storytelling initiatives, such as the Lasem Heritage Foundation in Indonesia and the UNESCO Bangkok Heritage Project, emphasise strong community involvement and technological adaptability. These cases illustrate that integrating local voices into storytelling enhances cultural authenticity, yet challenges such as inadequate internet access and lack of funding hinder broader implementation.

TABLE 1 KEY ELEMENTS OF DIGITAL STORYTELLING IN CBT

Furthermore, while multimodal content enhances engagement, case studies show that communities with limited resources struggle to produce high-quality digital narratives. Addressing these challenges requires targeted policies, financial support, and training programs.

The study also highlights implementation challenges related to balancing local ownership with global reach. While platforms like YouTube and Instagram expand audience engagement, there is a risk of cultural dilution when narratives are altered to appeal to mainstream tourism markets. Sustainable digital storytelling must, therefore, integrate strategies that ensure local narratives remain intact while leveraging digital reach.

Another important finding is that multimodal content plays an important role in digital storytelling. With all the different forms of media, like videos, images, audio, and text, both can create more engaging and immersive content. These multimodal and emotional narratives help to keep the stories emotionally accessible and emotionally impactful and memorable to audiences. In the digital age, such diversity in content also expands who has access to these narratives, primarily people who have a preference for one medium over the other. This is a kind of flexibility, a flexibility that has advantages for the user and enhances the spreading of cultural knowledge. This study also shows the value of global reach that can be achieved through social networks. Cultural narratives in the global space, however, are democratised via platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook, and stories can be transmitted across borders to include local stories. Not only does this tourism reach boost tourism, but it helps mould cross-cultural understanding as well. The study also points out, however, that this global reach must be backed up by local ownership to avoid cultural dilution. And by making sure that local communities are kept as central to the storytelling process as possible, even their narratives can stay authentic as they reach wider and wider audiences.

The study also emphasises the obligation of substantive messages in these digital narratives. Between promoting and potentially harming cultural and environmental resources, tourism has a dual role. Digital storytelling with transparency of message relating to sustainability of cultural heritage as well as the environment can create awareness of its significance in protecting cultural heritage and the environment. And just as the planet is dealing with mounting climate change and resource depletion issues, it’s especially relevant. Therefore, digital storytelling can be a tool for promoting responsible tourism practices while complying with broader sustainable development goals. Moreover, data analytics in digital storytelling offers a modern strategy of optimising storytelling. As it does, tourism marketers and policymakers track audience engagement and preferences so that they can refine how they approach their storytelling, ensuring the stories hit with the right audiences and have the right impact. By employing a data-driven methodology, we achieve continual improvement in the way that cultural heritage stories are told and shared, which ultimately drives more efficient cultural preservation and tourism promotion strategies shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2 PROPOSED LESSONS FROM THE STUDY

CONCLUSION

This research adds to the growing literature about digital storytelling in community-based tourism by identifying what makes a project unique for success. However, it also reveals critical limitations. One major limitation is the lack of standardised frameworks for implementing digital storytelling in different cultural settings. While some communities successfully integrate storytelling into tourism strategies, others face obstacles due to technological disparities and limited support structures.

Future research should focus on developing adaptable digital storytelling models that cater to diverse CBT contexts. Additionally, exploring policy interventions that facilitate financial and technological support for local storytellers can bridge existing gaps. Further investigation is needed on the long-term impacts of digital storytelling on cultural preservation and tourism sustainability, particularly in under-represented communities.

The proposed model provides practical insights for tourism operators, community leaders, and digital storytellers regarding making their CBT initiatives more effective. Authenticity meets multimodal content, meets social media, meets sustainability messaging, meets data analytics—a seamless narrative that combines all of these elements to create a well-told, global platform story that evokes feelings. This concludes that digital storytelling can be a powerful instrument of CBT, providing for cultural preservation and responsible tourism. Future research can investigate how this model could be used in other cultural settings, as well as its potentially long-term influence on tourism development and community empowerment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The research on Border Tourism and Malay Culture Development in Bintan, Indonesia was kindly supported by the grant Q.J130000.3053.04M73 / R.J130000.7353.1U030. We would like to thank the researchers from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universitas Airlangga, Philippines and Iloilo Science and Technology University, Philippines for their invaluable contributions in this project. The UTM Technology and Language Education Research Group and UTM Mass Appraisal, Housing, and Planning Research Group for their support, and feedback. However, any imperfections are ours and should not affect to these respected people’s reputation.

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