Against the backdrop of big data technology, the tourism industry is witnessing an abundance of new creative ideas. While digital technology-driven audiovisual spectacles offer tourists new experiences, the industry also faces numerous new challenges. This paper employs factor analysis models and the Tiel index to measure the level of cultural tourism experience innovation and industrial upgrading based on digital technology, respectively. It then combines panel fixed-effects models and data to explore the impact of cultural tourism experience innovation based on digital technology on industrial upgrading. The results show that for every one-unit increase in the cultural tourism experience innovation development index based on digital technology, the regional industrial upgrading index increases by 0.185 units, meaning that the higher the level of cultural tourism experience innovation, the smoother the industrial upgrading process. The empirical findings reveal tourists’ willingness to experience digital tourism technology, providing valuable reference for the development of digital tourism in China.
