Digital Co-creation for Sustainable Tourism

This project integrated digital education and sustainability literacy in tourism modules, combining classroom-based learning with community engagement in Chapelizod village and Phoenix Park. Thirty-five students explored how digital tools can communicate biodiversity, heritage, and climate issues to visitors. To introduce immersive technology, students first experienced global heritage through Virtual Reality: three Meta Quest 3 VR headsets were used to take students on a virtual tour of Machu Picchu, providing a benchmark for considering how VR can enhance interpretation and visitor experience. Building on this, students worked in groups with local partners to design QR code–enabled walking tours using Fectar, covering themes such as biodiversity, social and cultural history, and heritage-literary trails. These outputs could be viewed on mobile devices or through the VR headsets, allowing comparison between global exemplars and locally co-created experiences.