{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T19:49:31Z","timestamp":1770061771512,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,31]],"date-time":"2026-01-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769817600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme","award":["870747"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["870747"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sustainability"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cultural tourism (CT) has emerged as a critical driver of destination competitiveness; however, stakeholders struggle to balance heritage preservation, sustainable growth, and visitor management. Current decision making often lacks the practical information required to assess the multi-dimensional impacts of CT and to align strategies with sustainability goals. This paper presents a user-centred digital decision support system (DSS) developed under the European project IMPACTOUR. The methodological contribution is a procedure that uncovers links among strategies, actions, and performance indicators, conditioned on destination characteristics, by leveraging hierarchical multi-criteria analysis to weight sustainability domains. Co-designed with stakeholders, it integrates social and technological components and uses triangulated data to prioritise strategies and evaluate impacts. The visual interface offers a smart dashboard that supports strategic decision making and displays related key performance indicators, enabling stakeholders to monitor outcomes against predefined sustainability objectives. Pilot implementations in several European regions demonstrate the tool\u2019s efficacy in fostering data-driven planning to achieve a balanced approach between tourism and liveability. While the system is scalable, its current limits include regional specificity and data availability. Future work will incorporate AI-driven predictive analytics and adapt the DSS for application in non-European contexts, providing a replicable framework for advancing sustainable tourism policies in culturally rich destinations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/su18031412","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,2]],"date-time":"2026-02-02T09:00:33Z","timestamp":1770022833000},"page":"1412","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A Multi-Criteria Decision Support System for Data-Driven Strategic Planning in Sustainable Cultural Tourism"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2651-3149","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mikel","family":"Zubiaga De la Cal","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Cient\u00edfico y Tecnol\u00f3gico de Bizkaia, Astondo Bidea, Edificio 700, E-48160 Derio, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5872-5774","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandra","family":"Gandini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Cient\u00edfico y Tecnol\u00f3gico de Bizkaia, Astondo Bidea, Edificio 700, E-48160 Derio, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1900-934X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shabnam","family":"Pasandideh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NOVA School of Science and Technology, UNINOVA-CTS and LASI, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1735-146X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amaia","family":"Sopelana Gato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Cient\u00edfico y Tecnol\u00f3gico de Bizkaia, Astondo Bidea, Edificio 700, E-48160 Derio, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4895-4466","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tarmo","family":"Kalvet","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Baltic Studies, Lai 30, 51005 Tartu, Estonia"},{"name":"Department of Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1827-6278","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amaia","family":"Lopez de Aguileta Benito","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"TECNALIA, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), Parque Cient\u00edfico y Tecnol\u00f3gico de Bizkaia, Astondo Bidea, Edificio 700, E-48160 Derio, Spain"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0548-2091","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pedro","family":"Pereira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NOVA School of Science and Technology, UNINOVA-CTS and LASI, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]},{"given":"Tatjana","family":"Koor","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Estonian Business and Innovation Agency (Visit Estonia), Sepise 7, 11415 Tallinn, Estonia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2248-2595","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jo\u00e3o","family":"Martins","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"NOVA School of Science and Technology, UNINOVA-CTS and LASI, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"OECD (2024). 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