Reimagining the Museum Experience: A Systematic Review of Digital Transformation’s Function in Enhancing Visitor Behaviour, Institutional Marketing, and Heritage Accessibility

सार

This systematic review investigates the transformative effect of digital technologies on the global museum sector with respect to visitor behavior, institutional marketing, and heritage accessibility. It synthesizes interdisciplinary literature on digitization, immersive technologies, and organisational change to understand the ways in which museums are changing from object-centered repositories to dynamic, audience-oriented spaces of knowledge. The review highlights that while emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI), and Internet of Things (IoT) systems have a promising role in visitor engagement, learning outcomes, and experiential satisfaction, there is a significant gap between the potential of technology and institutional preparedness. The findings demonstrate that successful digital transformation depends not only on the technological infrastructure but also on the organisational capacity, policy frameworks and user-centered design. The COVID-19 pandemic is singled out as a major accelerator that redefined digital strategies, cementing the relevance of hybrid engagement models. It also highlights the increasing importance of data-driven decision-making, open data ecosystems and digital marketing to reach audiences and enhance museum sustainability. The review places these insights in the Indian context, highlighting national efforts such as digital cataloging and virtual museum platforms, but also challenges including infrastructural gaps, digital illiteracy, and policy fragmentation. The paper presents an integrative conceptual framework connecting technology, visitor experience, governance, organisational change and heritage valuation. It ends by emphasizing major research gaps, including digital equity, long-term sustainability, and Global South perspectives, and indicates future directions for scholarship and practice.

Keywords: Digital transformation; Museum digitization; Visitor engagement; Cultural heritage; Heritage accessibility