Regenerating Global Cultural Heritage Through Blockchain Technology: A Case Study in the Tourism Industry

Abstract

The tourism sector has increasingly faced criticism for its environmental, social, and cultural impacts, highlighting the limitations of traditional sustainability approaches that often prioritize incremental improvements and firm-centered strategies. In response, regenerative tourism has emerged as a transformative paradigm that aims to restore and strengthen socio-ecological systems while creating shared value for communities, ecosystems, and visitors. However, the practical implementation of regenerative business models remains challenging due to issues related to stakeholder coordination, transparency, and equitable value distribution. This thesis investigates the potential role of blockchain technology in enabling regenerative business models within tourism ecosystems. Specifically, the study explores how blockchain infrastructures can address key challenges associated with the creation, delivery, and capture of regenerative value. The research adopts a qualitative approach combining a systematic literature review with an in-depth case study of Quantum Temple, a company leveraging blockchain technology to preserve cultural heritage and promote regenerative tourism initiatives. The findings indicate that blockchain technologies—through their core features of decentralization, transparency, immutability, and traceability—can function as enabling infrastructures that support new governance mechanisms, participatory stakeholder coordination, and more equitable value distribution across tourism ecosystems. By linking blockchain affordances with the core components of business models, the study proposes a two-axis analytical framework illustrating how digital infrastructures can operationalize regenerative principles in tourism systems. Overall, the research contributes to business model theory, regenerative tourism literature, and blockchain studies by demonstrating how digital technologies can facilitate systemic transitions toward more transparent, participatory, and regenerative tourism ecosystems.