The metaverse in the hospitality and tourism industry: An overview of current trends and future research directions

TLDR

Scholars speculate that the metaverse will transform hospitality and tourism operations, yet understanding of its implications remains at a crossroads. The article explains the metaverse concept for hospitality and tourism, proposes a conceptual framework, identifies research gaps, and outlines future research agendas across staging experiences, consumer behavior, and marketing/operations. The authors propose a conceptual framework for designing metaverse experiences, highlighting research gaps and agenda items that could benefit industry players.

Abstract

Scholars have speculated that the metaverse will alter the way in which the hospitality and tourism industry operates. Efforts to understand this new phenomenon in both academia and industry are at a crossroads. In this opinion piece, we first attempt to explain the concept of the metaverse in general and in the context of the hospitality and tourism industry. Next, we propose a conceptual framework for creating metaverse experiences, identifying research gaps, and proposing agenda items with the potential to significantly benefit hospitality and tourism industry players. Finally, we classify future research agendas into three broad categories: staging experiences in the metaverse, understanding possible changes in the consumer behavior, and marketing and operations strategies in the metaverse.学者们推测，metaverse将改变酒店业和旅游业的运作方式. 学术界和工业界对这一新现象的理解正处于十字路口. 在这篇评论文章中，我们首先试图在酒店业和旅游业的背景下解释metaverse的概念. 接下来，我们提出了一个概念框架，用于创建metaverse体验、确定研究差距，并提出有可能使酒店业和旅游业参与者受益的议程项目. 最后，我们将未来的研究议程分为三大类在metaverse中展示体验、了解消费者行为的可能变化，以及metaverse中的营销和运营策略.