Activating community-based tourism through artificial intelligence: managing local knowledge for regenerative value co-creation in rural destinations

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming tourism practices by expanding the possibilities for knowledge-based value creation. Research on AI in tourism has largely focused on smart tourism applications, efficiency, automation, and visitor personalisation, while less attention has been paid to how AI may support community-centred forms of value creation rooted in cultural heritage and local knowledge. This study investigates how AI-enabled knowledge systems may support inclusive and regenerative Community-Based Tourism (CBT) in rural destinations. Drawing on a qualitative research design, based on TravelVerse, an AI-enabled technology provider and platform, the study examines how dispersed, tacit, and culturally embedded local knowledge can be collected, organised, preserved, and transformed into shareable tourism resources without displacing community authorship. Evidence is based on five semi-structured interviews with managerial and technical informants, complemented by internal documents. Findings identify three interconnected dimensions: i) AI-enabled knowledge infrastructures; ii) community empowerment and participatory sense-making; and iii) regenerative value co-creation ecosystems. The study contributes by proposing a community-centric AI framework for CBT, reframing AI not merely as a tool for tourism optimisation, but as an infrastructure for local knowledge management, participatory governance, and regenerative value creation.