DIGITAL EMPOWERMENT AND CULTURAL RECONSTRUCTION: A THREE-DIMENSIONAL PATHWAY FOR HIGH-QUALITY INTEGRATION OF CULTURAL TOURISM ALONG THE ZHEDONG TANG POETRY ROAD

The Zhedong Tang Poetry Road, a significant historical and cultural corridor in the Yangtze River Delta region, encompasses over 1,500 Tang Dynasty poems and 200 cultural heritage sites, serving as a vital carrier for the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s traditional culture. However, its tourism development faces challenges such as fragmented cultural resources, homogeneous experiential forms, and insufficient industrial coordination. This study proposes a three-dimensional theoretical framework—"Cultural IP Activation, Industrial Ecosystem Reconstruction, and Digital Technology Empowerment"—along with three practical pathways: thematic development, scenario-based experiences, and digital governance. Empirical findings demonstrate that this integrated approach significantly enhances tourist engagement and cultural heritage revitalization, with pilot areas achieving a 63% increase in visitor dwell time, a 45% improvement in heritage utilization, and a 79% rise in secondary consumption contributions. The research further elucidates the micro-mechanisms of digital technology in cultural heritage activation, offering theoretically grounded and practically actionable solutions for the transformation of traditional cultural tourism routes.