Metaverse is a thirty-year-old term, but a new formation. Metaverse is termed the 4th era of networking and computing – thereby succeeding mainframes (Ball, 2022). The Chapter will analyse the metaverse from two perspectives; it will look at the metaverse as a marketing tool and, or promote and sell goods and services in the hospitality industry; to use the metaverse as a marketing strategy in cultural marketing, and the future implications of metaverse on the hospitality industry as a whole. The global tourism and hospitality industry, currently, is experiencing some significant transformations due to certain disruptive innovations in the digital spheres across the globe – this includes the ‘metaverse'. Similarly, the notions of the ‘metaverse' as well as its virtual reality experiences have altered people's perspectives radically on the future of technology and its potential impacts on the tourism and hospitality industries.
TopPurpose Of The Research
The purpose of the learning is to explore and recognize how metaverse will be used in cultural marketing for the hospitality and tourism industry. The chapter will present how the metaverse can transform experiences in the hospitality and tourism industry– the way it will influence customers. The chapter will present the possibilities of the metaverse, trends in the application of the metaverse, and possible problems and challenges of applying the metaverse in the hotel and travel sectors
Statement of the Research Problems:
Even before the outbreak of the Coivd-19 pandemic, there were certain disruptions in the tourism and hospitality industry; wars and terrorism, the economic meltdown, economic and technological progress, and currently, Russia’s Special Operation in Ukraine. These necessitate changes that affect the industry and make it prone to be affected negatively across the globe. Therefore, the hospitality and tourism industry has to be innovative to remain relevant in the competitive globally as well as regional markets. The metaverse is one area that will make the industry to be more competitive and enable industry to withstand the disruptive shocks
Academic/Industrial Justification of the Research:
The findings of the study, when positively realizable, will be applied by the tourism and hospitality enterprises, experts and other businesses (which will boost their sales), as well as the customers, to enhance their experiences (of the customers) as a way of engagement. The findings can be used/applied as a new strategy for marketing to increase the sales of tourism and hospitality goods and services. Similarly, scholars, experts and students in hospitality and tourism management will find the work useful, and will also increase the frontier of knowledge in the field.
The term “metaverse,” which combines the words “meta,” which means “beyond,” and “verse,” which means “Shortland of the cosmos,” refers to a computer-based virtual environment that exists outside of physical reality (Dionisio et al., 2013).
There was the Sims, a strategic life simulation video game, before the emergence of social media internet in the 2000s. You could build cities, families, and stores in this video game's suburban neighbourhood within a made-up metropolis. In 2021, Mark Zuckerberg launched the development of his metaverse (Lopez Diez, 2021), renaming the social media juggernaut and related businesses as Meta Platforms, Inc. to improve consumers' lives through the application of technology.