ESI Preprints Metaverse in Tourism and Hospitality: Empirical Evidence On Generation Z From Italy
ESI Preprints Metaverse in Tourism and Hospitality: Empirical Evidence On Generation Z From Italy
ESI Preprints Metaverse in Tourism and Hospitality: Empirical Evidence On Generation Z From Italy
Doi: 10.19044/esipreprint.10.2022.p800
Cite As:
Rancati E. & d’Agata A. (2022). Metaverse in Tourism and Hospitality: Empirical
Evidence on Generation Z from Italy). ESI Preprints.
https://doi.org/10.19044/esipreprint.10.2022.p800
Abstract
The paper intends to analyze the change taking place in tourism
marketing due to the metaverse. The tastes and needs of today's new
generations of tourists, especially Generation Z, are becoming more and
more in line with new technologies. Tourism marketing requires a change in
the way of promoting and telling a product and a brand. The objective of the
paper will be to analyze the digital tools of the Metaverse and of the
“immersive” technologies. The results of a survey that investigates people's
propensity to use digital tools and new technologies will also be presented.
Further objectives will be to understand the role these technologies will have
in the world of travel and to provide a “guide” for tourism-related
businesses, trying to help them face and understand a highly dynamic sector.
Introduction
The digitization of the tourism and hospitality market has now a
great diffusion for several years: tourists book and collect information on the
web to find the best travel offers. Innovations of the last few years have
revolutionized traditional tourism experience purchase models. Marketers in
the industry have had to rethink how they sell and sponsor tourism products
and services. Nowadays, almost all tourism marketing strategies are linked to
conventional and digital marketing tools and strategies. The metaverse is
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Literature review
A new form of the internet where augmented reality, virtual reality,
blockchain, 5G and gaming platforms converge is the metaverse. The
primary objective of the metaverse is to make users interact virtually,
overcome the limitations of devices and immerse themselves in a new world
where the boundaries between what is physical and what is digital are
increasingly blurred (Buhalis et al., 2022). One could therefore think of a set
of interconnected virtual and real worlds, populated by avatars, with spaces
in which to meet, work, have fun with people who are elsewhere. To access
this new environment, you will wear a viewer or a pair of glasses such as
augmented reality glasses or even just a PC for some applications. It is a
transformation that will completely change the world of tourism: the Internet
is about to leave its three-dimensional derivation to the metaverse (Capannari
L, 2022). Privacy, legislative security regulation and the need to be an
integral part of the metaverse.
The concept of synthetic travel is not new and with the advent of
metaverse, this way of "virtually traveling" will certainly be accentuated.
Metaverse tourism and metaverse travel technology help alter the
relationship between companies and their customers by bridging physical
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Methodologies
Sample characteristics
The study sample was a national sample. The respondents consisted
in individuals who contacted by interviewers between the ages 20 and 28,
approximately trained in data collection procedures and used as interviewers.
This approach has been successfully used in previous research (Jones and
Reynolds, 2006; Reisenwitz and Fowler, 2009).
Interviewers administered questionnaires and were instructed to
screen potential respondents with three qualifying questions on the cover
page of the questionnaire: a) an age range that categorized the respondent as
a member of Generation Z; b) an acknowledgement that the respondent had
known almost one of the four Italian travel blogger and c) confirmation that
the respondents love travel.
An introduction to the questionnaire was just below the seven
questions on the cover page, including an assurance to respondents that their
responses would be kept confidential.
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Data collection
A ten-page questionnaire was used as the survey instrument and it
was developed with four main constructs including scale items. Further, to
collect required information from many respondents, we used a face to face
survey method.
Three pretests were conducted to test the questionnaire among the
students and professional friends from other generation. Validity of the
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Data analysis
The study’s one-round survey combines qualitative approaches.
In order to improve the indicators’ validity, convergence, consensus
and concordance we verify the representation of the sample compared to the
population.
We apply the t-test (sample mean comparison), the first 30 per cent
of responses was compared with last 30 per cent and thus, the independent
sample of t-test displayed an insignificant difference between these two
groups, implying no case of unit non-response bias with the collected.
Moreover, we provided a sticky to each respondent when they began to fill
up the questionnaire to elicit the honest and true responses from the chosen
sample. Offering gifts (such as coupons, cash incentives and samples) in
face-to-face interview is widely practice among the researchers to motivate
survey respondents and it improves the completion rate (Chen et al., 2015).
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Results
After investigating the socio-demographic characteristics of the
respondents and analyzing the section relating to digital innovations in
tourism, the questionnaire aims to answer the second research question
analyzing the section of synthetic tourism. First, the knowledge of
augmented reality, virtual reality and metaverse of the respondents was
examined: most of the respondents (78%) say they know augmented reality.
About virtual reality, almost all of the respondents (92%) say they know it
and most of the respondents (82%) say they know the metaverse. Several
questions were asked to analyse how respondents wish be in using the
metaverse as a tool for organizing their trip (choice, booking, purchase). The
items proposed are the following: metaverse can suggest purchasing a tourist
experience in a travel agency (72%), it can review the rooms of the hotel for
next travels (8%) and, using it, respondents can know the avatar of your
companion (15%).
Some questions ask the respondents indicate the level of interest in
using the metaverse as a tool to increase experience in the trip: sightseeing
the cities, vacation in a resort village, visit a zoo to discover extinct animals,
live a past travel experience, participation in exhibitions, fairs and
conferences, attendance some concerts, live the experience of discos,
festivals, etc., interact with the local community.
Another question aims to know if respondents would use similar
technology for their travels if they had the opportunity: 461 answered
affirmatively. Most of the respondents (93%) argue that a trip into the
metaverse should cost less than a real trip, 6% say that a trip to the metaverse
should cost the same as a real trip. Only 1% of respondents think that a trip
to the metaverse should cost more than a real trip. A further question was
asked about the advantages of being able to travel into the metaverse. In
particular, four possible items were presented. Metaverse can test an
experience or an attraction that is on the other side of the world, can improve
the booking experience, allows people that don’t have the possibility to
travel or it is an escape from real life.
The variable that has obtained a higher score is “allow those who
do not have the possibility to travel”, following "testing an experience or an
attraction that is on the other side of the world"; then "temporarily escape
from reality.
At the end of the questionnaire, researchers put the following open-
ended question :"in your opinion, could there be other benefits to travel to
the metaverse?". 127 responses were collected. One of the advantages of the
metaverse is the inclusion of those who may experience difficulties in
dealing with a trip such as people with disabilities, elderly people.
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Discussion
The paper investigated the knowledge and the degree of
appreciation towards synthetic tourism and the metaverse. The analysis of
the data collected shows that the tourist shows that only a little part of the
sample has never heard of the metaverse. Once this reality and its
functioning were explained, it was possible to deepen their opinion on the
metaverse and its use for travel. The fields of application are endless: choice,
booking and travel organization. The metaverse turns out to be a useful and
supportive technology for the tourism industry. The possibility to preview
the destination or the rooms of the accommodation facility is a big
opportunity that most respondents consider absolutely innovative and
challenging. Concerning the travel experience, the analysis shows that most
respondents would use the metaverse as a tool to live a past experience. The
metaverse can also focus on the dimension of emotions to attract more and
more people. Furthermore, most respondents would use similar technology
to travel. About the price expectation of a trip into the metaverse, the
perception by the sample is that it should cost less than a real trip.
Finally, conflicting opinions emerged: some respondents believe
the metaverse losses authenticity and someone else describe advantages:
inclusiveness thanks to the reduction of prices, architectural barriers and the
possibility of shortening distances.
Conclusion
The advent of the Internet and technology has revolutionized
tourism sector by making important changes and influencing trends in the
market. Through the digital tools, tourists have become more and more
demanding and independent: they communicate directly via web platforms
with basic service providers, bypassing traditional intermediaries and using
new online travel intermediaries. Not only have people been conditioned by
this change, but also companies have had to adapt to new methods, no longer
linked only to traditional marketing but also to digital marketing.
The paper argues that marketing 5.0 will be the marketing of the
future in the metaverse. Those technologies imitate the human to create,
communicate, offer and increase value along the customer journey. The Z
generations, digital experts, will be the tourists of the future who will require
immersive experiences increasingly linked to technology. For this reason,
companies will be competitive approaching the metaverse that will hardly
replace the journey, completely eliminating the intangibility of the service.
The results obtained from the survey show that the tourist of generation Z in
most cases takes advantage of digitization. The analysis shows that only a
little part of the sample has never heard of the Metaverse and that it appears
to be an useful and supportive technology for the tourism industry: it attracts
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above all the possibility of being able to preview the rooms of the
accommodation facility. Once again, therefore, the essence of the metaverse
emerges: offering opportunities to tourists by improving their customer
journey, the path that each customer takes before making a purchase. Most
respondents would use similar technology to travel; in particular, not to live
an experience of worldly life but rather as a tool to relive a past experience.
Hence the conclusion that the emotional dimension wins: the possibility of
being able to relive a past experience will involve more and more people in
the metaverse, where it will be possible to immerse yourself in experiences
already lived. Finally, conflicting opinions emerged in the open responses:
for some it could be a unique and inclusive opportunity; for others, a loss of
authenticity. In conclusion, it is important to get in touch with these
technological realities because their use represents one of the main levers of
development and efficiency increase in the travel sector.
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