The Metaverse tourism industry is expected to grow by $188.24 billion by 2026. The concept of metaverse tourism has been around since the 1990s and is becoming more popular as technology advances. As a result, it is opening up several new opportunities for tourism-related businesses.
AR and VR technology advancements, 5G deployment, the introduction of digital assets, and increased internet penetration in the metaverse are propelling the market. The tourism industry is embracing the metaverse for two significant reasons; increased booking volume and more immersive experiences.
Furthermore, increased mergers and acquisitions in the travel industry, as well as investments in startups, have increased demand for the metaverse. All of this is heavily reliant on global market conditions, current trends, and market analysis. This enables organizations to strategize and capitalize on potential opportunities.
This article explores the various opportunities offered by the metaverse tourism industry.
What is the Metaverse?
The term “metaverse“ refers to the creation of virtual worlds primarily focused on social interactions. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including virtual reality experiences that immerse users in a digitally changing environment, augmented reality overlays in the real world, and even video games.
In the tourism industry, the metaverse is typically linked with users having control over a digital avatar, which is then used to converse with other metaverse community members. Aside from its social aspects, businesses are exploring how the metaverse can be used to reach customers no matter where they are.
As a result, the metaverse is regarded as one of the most recent tourism trends. As more metaverse travel and tourism alternatives emerge and user adoption increases, the metaverse is expected to play a larger role in the tourist industry, improving communication and the customer or visitor experience.
What Is the Difference Between the Metaverse and Virtual Reality?
The metaverse (in the tourism industry) refers to the development of an interactive virtual environment. Virtual reality is a part of this, but it is not essential.
Augmented reality and other related technologies can be used to create and explore interactive virtual worlds, video games, and interactive video content. To better understand this distinction, consider the metaverse to be a portal through which metaverse tourists can access a variety of options.
An Overview of the Tourism Industry
Tourism refers to any activity that requires humans to relocate temporarily to locations other than their usual residence. Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, and it is vital to the economies of many countries.
It is also a massive industry that includes hotel operations, transportation, and a variety of other industries or sectors. It is vital to understand that the tourism industry is dependent on individuals visiting various locations for several reasons, including pleasure, business, and other purposes.
Tourism excludes the activities of visitors who plan to stay in a travel destination for more than a year. This means that expatriates and long-term international students are not classified as tourists.
Can Tourism and Technology Co-exist?
There is a definite correlation between tourism development and technological advancement. Indeed, technology has always been used to generate new practices in tourism (from computerized booking centres in the 1970s to the domestication of the internet in the late 1990s).
The metaverse is a component of the internet’s evolution, which employs increasingly immersive technologies to create phygital experiences (which blur the line between the real and virtual worlds).
The global pandemic has also resulted in several organizations increasing and sustaining their use of technical tools to provide virtual reality tours, whether for museums, national parks, or heritage sites.
In addition to exploring World Heritage cultural sites, the Fly Over Zone app shows users what destroyed sites would have looked like in their original state.
Amazon has launched “Amazon Explore,” which allows users to travel the world virtually. This feature offers a live-streaming interactive service that claims to allow people to discover new places from their computers.
Asia is a tourism powerhouse. One of Asia’s most successful metaverse tourism projects is MoyaLand, a virtual tourism realm with a tourist office, museums, an airport, and a historical centre where people can roam around using their avatars.
How Does the Metaverse Impact the Tourism Industry?
The following are some of the opportunities the metaverse offers in the tourism industry.
Virtual Theme Parks
One of the primary means by which the metaverse tourism industry has thrived is the establishment of virtual theme parks, zoos, museums, and other such attractions.
Customers will have a more authentic experience because they will be able to enjoy anything that resembles a real-life event.
However, it may also provide significant benefits to enterprises.
A virtual theme park, for example, is not constrained by the same stringent safety regulations that apply to real-world theme parks.
Also, a virtual zoo does not necessitate purchasing and caring for live animals. A virtual zoo may contain animals from both living and extinct species.
Interactive Reservation Systems
Metaverse tourism solutions have the potential to significantly improve booking procedures by supplying critical data that cannot be accurately presented in other ways. This increases the likelihood that a customer will complete the booking process rather than cancel it.
Customers will appreciate the ease with which they can make arrangements for flights or motels.
Instead of filling out complicated forms or interacting with bots, the user will book a flight, tour package, or hotel stay through an immersive experience. Both the client and the company can create avatars.
Video Game Tourism
Metaverse tourism plays a key role in motivating travelers. For example, interactive virtual reality experiences can accurately show tourists what to expect when they visit a particular place.
In the future, a tourism board will spend more money generating metaverse content inspired by video games than marketing brochures.
For example, visitors can virtually interact with the penguins of Antarctica using VR headsets. Travel agencies can use this as a pre-sale demonstration to promote actual trips to England or Antarctica. The VR experience can be purchased separately, giving agencies a new revenue stream.
Immersive 3D Hotels
The metaverse will change the game for hotels by allowing sales teams to generate more revenue. A sale will take less time to complete with smarter platforms. This is especially true for hotels that make their money by renting out meeting rooms and function halls, which in today’s world require decision-makers to physically visit the hotel.
Popular hotel brands that have entered the sector include Movenpick, Atlantis, Marriott, and Anantara.
They are collaborating with RendezVerse and other metaverse content producers to create an electronic and three-dimensional replica of the platform.
Metaverse Airlines
Airlines such as Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qantas, and Qatar Airways are investing millions of dollars in metaverse experiences due to the high return on investment.
For example, in the metaverse, airlines award loyalty points to passengers who visit their digital environment and use amenities such as lounges and online shops. When users accumulate enough points, they can trade them for real-world benefits such as free flights and cabin upgrades.
The airlines then profit from the points by selling them to a third party, such as a credit card company.
Passengers, airlines, and credit card companies all benefit.
Examples of Metaverse Tourism
Tourism NFTs
Several corporations, including McDonald’s, have leveraged the power of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to improve their marketing tactics. NFTs are an essential component of the metaverse, and branding NFTs may increase client participation. Marriott Bonvoy is one of the most impressive tourism NFTs, as evidenced by the three NFTs displayed at Art Basel Miami Beach 2021.
Online Trade Shows
The COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected trade shows, expos, and other similar events, forcing them to move online.
These digital gatherings can be taken to the next level by utilizing metaverse tourism solutions.
Events can be moved online, and the same types of social interactions that can occur in person can be replicated using virtual reality (VR), avatars, or other means.
Virtual Theme Parks
Virtual attractions such as amusement parks, museums, and zoos play a major role in the rise of the virtual tourism industry in the metaverse. Virtual tourism allows customers to have an experience that is similar to what they would have in a real-life situation.
Virtual tourism has the potential to offer significant benefits to companies. For instance, a digital amusement park is not required to adhere to the same safety standards as a physical one. Also, a virtual zoo can have any number of animals, real or fictional, and it doesn’t need to buy or care for any real animals.
Augmented Reality
Augmented reality offers many benefits in the metaverse tourism sector. For example, augmented reality apps on a smartphone could aid in learning more about real-world places and their surroundings.
The application of augmented reality in metaverse tourism would encourage the development of AR-based tourist attractions and interactive hotel components. Augmented reality in metaverse tourism relies on beacon technology to deliver useful real-time push messages.
In Conclusion,
- Metaverse tourism and tourism technology are transforming the relationship between businesses and their customers by eliminating physical distances and providing new experiences.
- The metaverse concept, in particular, has the potential to inspire customers and deliver critical information that is likely to increase bookings.
- Customers can reap the benefits of metaverse tourism by participating in a new and more engaging type of virtual tourism. Also, hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry, such as event planners, can use the metaverse to improve the efficiency of their operations.
- The metaverse is also an excellent platform for enhancing tourism activities and marketing initiatives.
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