Metaverse in hospitality and tourism: a critical reflection

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to discuss the current context, scope and impacts of a metaverse in the hospitality and tourism industry. Although existing literature discussed the potentials of the metaverse in this context, the ways the metaverse work is still being defined and accessing a complete metaverse is still not yet possible. This existing knowledge will become increasingly sophisticated and complex as developments in the metaverse continue, eventually contributing to a knowledge gap in knowledge, and its implications in shaping how the future digital environment should take form. Design/methodology/approach This work is based on a critical reflection of the existing developments and applications of the metaverse. Drawing from authors’ experiences, and synthesis of existing works and narratives, this work discusses the applications of the metaverse, critical factors for considerations and applications of the metaverse and proposes the way forward for potential users. Findings The metaverse provides new opportunities for the hospitality and tourism industry but the impact of the technology may not be felt immediately. The real challenge lies in developing a responsible digital environment for users and suppliers. Although the aspects to be considered are many, a lack of preparedness is a great obstacle. Research limitations/implications This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of how the metaverse can be applied in the hospitality and tourism sector aiming to provide diverse stakeholders insights into the associated opportunities and pitfalls. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is among the first attempts to critically reflect on the possibilities of the metaverse, and contributes to the discussion on the attributes of the metaverse for tourism and hospitality (e.g. SSIs, decentralization) and includes discussion on special needs users, sustainable usage and climate change, and presents several agendas for further actions.

The Role of Metaverse in Silk Road’s Tourism:

“…In order to answer this question, the study adopts an analytic approach consolidates insights derived from over 50 academic studies from leading journals at the intersection of heritage digitization and immersive tourism, including Tourism Management (Buhalis, Leung et al, 2023), International Journal of Tourism Cities (Zhang, J. and Quoquab, 2023), Tourism Review (Zhang, J., Quoquab et al, 2024), International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (Wong, Tan et al, 2023), Information Technology and Tourism (Fazio, Fricano et al, 2023), and Current Issues in Tourism (Medai and Wu, 2023;Özdemir Uçgun and Şahin, 2023;Trunfio, Campana et al, 2020a), surfaced through scholarly databases like Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar, along with relevant policy guidelines from agencies like UNESCO, UNWTO, ICOMOS, and EU on matters of digital ethics, community participation needs, and museum technology adoption protocols (EU, 2021;UNESCO, 2013, n.d.;UNWTO, 2013;Wei, 2019).…”

Digital Silk Roads: Leveraging the Metaverse for Cultural Tourism within the Belt and Road Initiative Framework

“…By creating immersive and interactive virtual environments, the Metaverse can enable tourists to remotely explore destinations, attractions, and events, overcoming the physical, temporal, and financial constraints they may face [15,16]. Moreover, the Metaverse can facilitate personalized and engaging experiences, allowing tourists to interact with virtual guides, avatars, and other users, all the while fostering social connections and cultural exchange [38][39][40].…”

“…Interconnected digital twins: Creating a network of interconnected digital twins can not only enhance cultural heritage appreciation but also promote sustainable tourism and conservation efforts. These virtual platforms can serve as powerful tools for education, engagement, and research [39,40,[80][81][82].…”

The dark side of the metaverse: The role of gamification in event virtualization

“…Previous research has analyzed how immersive technologies/virtual worlds (e.g., Yung et al, 2022) can be applied in the events industry. The metaverse is a technological revolution that provides highly immersive, social and interactive experiences that can, in a virtual setting, replicate and extend many aspects of in-person events (Dwivedi et al, 2022;Wong et al, 2023).…”

“…Due to the novelty of the metaverse as a research concept, academic literature on its application to the customer experience is scarce (Dwivedi et al, 2023a). Existing research is mostly conceptual in nature (e.g., Buhalis et al, 2022Buhalis et al, , 2023Dwivedi et al, 2022;Go & Kang, 2023;Gursoy et al, 2022;Mladenović et al, 2023;Richter & Richter, 2023;Wong et al, 2023). Among the few empirical exceptions, in the tourism industry Tsai (2022) found that users' perceptions of holistic presence (spatial, social and self-presence) in the metaverse affected (directly and indirectly through holistic happiness) their behavioral intentions to visit a real destination.…”