Due to technological advances and existence of limitations in modern life, there has been a demand for new ways of tourism. In this regard, the present study aimed to model the factors affecting smart governance for managing cultural heritage tourism destinations. This study was of an interpretive, applied, quantitative, field-library and survey type. The statistical population was all activists, experts, managers and employees of tourism organizations in East Azerbaijan province and according to the results of the GPower software and using the criterion-based purposive method, 166 people were selected as a sample. The research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was obtained from the qualitative findings section of the study. In addition to the descriptive section, structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and all analyses were performed in SPSS version 23 and smartPLS version 3.1.1 software at a significance level of 0.05. The research results showed that the research model has a good fit and that the need for development, the need for accountability, smart features, culture, specialized factors and lifestyle has a positive and significant effect, and economic factors, political factors and government factors have a negative and significant effect on the smart governance of cultural tourism destinations in East Azerbaijan province. Managers and officials should think about developing and promoting positive and driving factors and eliminating negative and inhibiting economic, political and governmental problems.