Qualification in digital cultural tourism marketing - a critical examination of the offers of tourism organizations for rural areas

Many cultural institutions in rural areas struggle with the implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in tourism marketing. The cultural institutions therefore need opportunities for the qualification of their staff. Tourism organisations play an important role in providing corresponding offers. Within the framework of an interview study, it was therefore examined which offers for qualification in digital cultural tourism marketing are already available on the part of the tourism organisations and under which circumstances these are used by the cultural institutions in rural areas. The results show that although some offers are already available, they are often not explicitly aimed at cultural institutions. Therefore, these offers are often not yet used by the cultural institutions. The tourism organisations are therefore recommended to establish specific offers for cultural institutions and to establish additional exchange formats. Furthermore, local political actors should be sensitised, the offers should be disseminated on different levels and strong advocated should be established.