IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i4p3348-d1065616.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Travelling the Metaverse: Potential Benefits and Main Challenges for Tourism Sectors and Research Applications

Author

Listed:
  • Salvatore Monaco

    (Faculty of Education, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

  • Giovanna Sacchi

    (Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, 39100 Bolzano, Italy)

Abstract

The paper focuses on analysing the potential benefits and challenges of the Metaverse, particularly in the field of research in the tourism and food and wine sectors. The Metaverse is part of the new generation of the internet known as web 3.0, which also includes AI, blockchain and other digital innovations. The food marketing and tourism sectors are the main fields where companies are experimenting with solutions to offer people a fully functioning immersive Metaverse experience. This paper aims to highlight the potential impact of the Metaverse on tourism sectors as well as on research activities. Open challenges concern the social acceptance, affordability, and environmental sustainability of these technologies. Research is needed on the Metaverse’s ability to reduce bias and accurately simulate real experiences, as well as on tourists’ perceptions, attitudes, and willingness to pay for mediated experiences. Another important issue is the management of sensitive data that will travel through the Metaverse. Looking forward, the Metaverse has the potential to become a valuable tool for advancing tourism research through virtual collaboration and interdisciplinary research projects.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvatore Monaco & Giovanna Sacchi, 2023. "Travelling the Metaverse: Potential Benefits and Main Challenges for Tourism Sectors and Research Applications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-10, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3348-:d:1065616
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3348/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3348/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donthu, Naveen & Kumar, Satish & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Pandey, Nitesh & Lim, Weng Marc, 2021. "How to conduct a bibliometric analysis: An overview and guidelines," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 285-296.
    2. Markus Weinberger, 2022. "What Is Metaverse?—A Definition Based on Qualitative Meta-Synthesis," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-16, October.
    3. Dwivedi, Yogesh K. & Hughes, Laurie & Ismagilova, Elvira & Aarts, Gert & Coombs, Crispin & Crick, Tom & Duan, Yanqing & Dwivedi, Rohita & Edwards, John & Eirug, Aled & Galanos, Vassilis & Ilavarasan, , 2021. "Artificial Intelligence (AI): Multidisciplinary perspectives on emerging challenges, opportunities, and agenda for research, practice and policy," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    4. Pannee Suanpang & Chawalin Niamsorn & Pattanaphong Pothipassa & Thinnagorn Chunhapataragul & Titiya Netwong & Kittisak Jermsittiparsert, 2022. "Extensible Metaverse Implication for a Smart Tourism City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Zeng, Guojun & Cao, Xinning & Lin, Zhibin & Xiao, Sarah H., 2020. "When online reviews meet virtual reality: Effects on consumer hotel booking," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    6. Umer Zaman & Inhyouk Koo & Saba Abbasi & Syed Hassan Raza & Madeeha Gohar Qureshi, 2022. "Meet Your Digital Twin in Space? Profiling International Expat’s Readiness for Metaverse Space Travel, Tech-Savviness, COVID-19 Travel Anxiety, and Travel Fear of Missing Out," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Hyoung-Yong Choi, 2022. "Working in the Metaverse: Does Telework in a Metaverse Office Have the Potential to Reduce Population Pressure in Megacities? Evidence from Young Adults in Seoul, South Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-17, March.
    8. Tonino Pencarelli, 2020. "The digital revolution in the travel and tourism industry," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 455-476, September.
    9. HyeJin Lee & Yohan Hwang, 2022. "Technology-Enhanced Education through VR-Making and Metaverse-Linking to Foster Teacher Readiness and Sustainable Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-21, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Petr, Christine & Caudan, Paul, 2024. "Ethical marketing framework for metaverse simulated experiences of tourism (SET): An exploration of consumers’ aspirations and fears," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Mohsen Hatami & Qian Qu & Yu Chen & Hisham Kholidy & Erik Blasch & Erika Ardiles-Cruz, 2024. "A Survey of the Real-Time Metaverse: Challenges and Opportunities," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-52, October.
    3. Shekhar Rathor & Mingyu Zhang & Taehoon Im, 2023. "Web 3.0 and Sustainability: Challenges and Research Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    4. Nansy Kouroupi & Theodore Metaxas, 2023. "Can the Metaverse and Its Associated Digital Tools and Technologies Provide an Opportunity for Destinations to Address the Vulnerability of Overtourism?," Tourism and Hospitality, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-19, June.
    5. Hyeon Jo, 2023. "Tourism in the digital frontier: a study on user continuance intention in the metaverse," Information Technology & Tourism, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 307-330, September.
    6. Christine Petr & Paul Caudan, 2024. "Ethical marketing framework for metaverse simulated experiences of tourism (SET): An exploration of consumers’ aspirations and fears," Post-Print hal-04554364, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chen, Xun-Qi & Ma, Chao-Qun & Ren, Yi-Shuai & Lei, Yu-Tian & Huynh, Ngoc Quang Anh & Narayan, Seema, 2023. "Explainable artificial intelligence in finance: A bibliometric review," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    2. Ernesto D. R. Santibanez Gonzalez & Vinay Kandpal & Marcio Machado & Mauro Luiz Martens & Sushobhan Majumdar, 2023. "A Bibliometric Analysis of Circular Economies through Sustainable Smart Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-22, November.
    3. Youssef El Archi & Brahim Benbba & Kai Zhu & Zineb El Andaloussi & László Pataki & Lóránt Dénes Dávid, 2023. "Mapping the Nexus between Sustainability and Digitalization in Tourist Destinations: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-16, June.
    4. Prateek Kalia & Dušan Mladenović & à ngel Acevedo-Duque, 2022. "Decoding the Trends and the Emerging Research Directions of Digital Tourism in the Last Three Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(4), pages 21582440221, October.
    5. Alexandru Constantin Ciobanu & Gabriela Meè˜Nièšä‚, 2021. "Ai Ethics In Business €“ A Bibliometric Approach," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 28, pages 169-202, December.
    6. Jussi S. Jauhiainen & Claudia Krohn & Johanna Junnila, 2022. "Metaverse and Sustainability: Systematic Review of Scientific Publications until 2022 and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Mariani, Marcello M. & Machado, Isa & Magrelli, Vittoria & Dwivedi, Yogesh K., 2023. "Artificial intelligence in innovation research: A systematic review, conceptual framework, and future research directions," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    8. Jan Wiers & Didier Chabaud, 2022. "Bibliometric analysis of immigrant entrepreneurship research 2009–2019," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 12(1), pages 441-464, December.
    9. Katherin Carrera-Silva & Olga Maritza Rodríguez Ulcuango & Paula Abdo-Peralta & Ángel Gerardo Castelo Salazar & Carmen Amelia Samaniego Erazo & Diego Haro Ávalos, 2024. "Beyond the Financial Horizon: A Critical Review of Social Responsibility in Latin American Credit Unions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-23, September.
    10. Yucheng Zhang & Zhiling Wang & Lin Xiao & Lijun Wang & Pei Huang, 2023. "Discovering the evolution of online reviews: A bibliometric review," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-22, December.
    11. Tajana Čop & Mario Njavro, 2022. "Application of Discrete Choice Experiment in Agricultural Risk Management: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-17, August.
    12. Migliavacca, Milena & Goodell, John W. & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2023. "A bibliometric review of portfolio diversification literature," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    13. Shuangqing Sheng & Wei Song & Hua Lian & Lei Ning, 2022. "Review of Urban Land Management Based on Bibliometrics," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-25, November.
    14. Gour Gobinda Goswami & Tahmid Labib, 2022. "Modeling COVID-19 Transmission Dynamics: A Bibliometric Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Dzintra Atstāja & Kevin Wilclif Mukem, 2024. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Oil and Gas Industry in Developing Countries as a Part of the Quadruple Helix Concept: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Das, Kallol & Patel, Jayesh D. & Sharma, Anuj & Shukla, Yupal, 2023. "Creativity in marketing: Examining the intellectual structure using scientometric analysis and topic modeling," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    17. Majda Ćesić & Katarina Rogulj & Jelena Kilić Pamuković & Andrija Krtalić, 2024. "A Systematic Review on Fuzzy Decision Support Systems and Multi-Criteria Analysis in Urban Heat Island Management," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-42, April.
    18. Ying Liang & Wei Song, 2022. "Ecological and Environmental Effects of Land Use and Cover Changes on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau: A Bibliometric Review," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-23, November.
    19. Luiz Almeida & Ana Soares & Pedro Moura, 2023. "A Systematic Review of Optimization Approaches for the Integration of Electric Vehicles in Public Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-26, June.
    20. Lanzalonga Federico & Chmet Federico & Petrolo Basilio & Brescia Valerio, 2023. "Exploring Diversity Management to Avoid Social Washing and Pinkwashing: Using Bibliometric Analysis to Shape Future Research Directions," Journal of Intercultural Management, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 41-65, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:3348-:d:1065616. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.