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Exploring new realms or losing touch? Assessing public beliefs about tourism in the metaverse–a big-data approach

Ali B. Mahmoud (St John's University The Peter J Tobin College of Business, New York, New York, USA and London South Bank University, London, UK)
Leonora Fuxman (Department of Management, St John's University, New York, New York, USA)
Yousra Asaad (Brunel University London, Uxbridge, UK)
Konstantinos Solakis (Universidad de Sevilla, Seville, Spain)

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

ISSN: 0959-6119

Article publication date: 16 July 2024

395

Abstract

Purpose

The Metaverse is rapidly reshaping the understanding of tourism, yet the public perception of this new domain remains largely uncharted empirically. This paper aims to build on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovations theory (DIT) to fill this gap, offering crucial insights that could inform scholars and practitioners in both the tourism and technology sectors.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a big-data approach, the authors applied machine learning to scrape comments made by social media users on recent popular posts or videos related to tourism in the Metaverse from three prominent social media platforms. The cleaning process narrowed down 15,461 comments to 2,650, which were then analysed using thematic, emotion and sentiment analysis techniques.

Findings

The thematic analysis revealed that virtual tourism evokes a complex range of public beliefs. While many express awe and excitement toward its immersive capabilities, others remain sceptical about authenticity compared to physical travel. Additional themes show people draw comparisons to real-world tourism, discuss technology’s role and note educational value and novelty. However, some comments raise concerns about potential societal harms, exploitation and mental health impacts. Sentiment analysis found over half of the comments positive, though some were negative. Emotion analysis showed contentment, happiness and excitement as most frequent, though sadness, worry and loneliness also featured. Overall, perceptions of Metaverse tourism encompass enthusiasm yet substantial ambivalence.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to comprehensively analyse public discussions on Metaverse tourism. It takes TAM and Rogers’s DIT a step further and provides fresh insights into how these theories can be employed in the emerging field of Metaverse tourism. The themes revealed new conceptual insights into multidimensional factors shaping public beliefs about Metaverse tourism and thus informing scholarly research on virtual interaction and technology acceptance regarding Metaverse tourism. In addition, the results can help tourism providers, platforms and marketers address salient public beliefs and sentiments/attitudes in developing marketing offerings, experiences and communications. Over time, this analysis methodology can be used to track the evolving public perceptions of Metaverse tourism.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Contributions: ABM contributed 100% of conceptualisation + 67% of Introduction + 67% Literature review + 100% of Methods + 100% of Results + 67% of Discussion. LF contributed 33% of Introduction + 12% Literature review. YA contributed 22% of Discussion + 10% Literature review.KS contributed 11% of Discussion + 11% Literature review.

Citation

Mahmoud, A.B., Fuxman, L., Asaad, Y. and Solakis, K. (2024), "Exploring new realms or losing touch? Assessing public beliefs about tourism in the metaverse–a big-data approach", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-09-2023-1515

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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