A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to imagine the Metaverse concept in the travel and tourism industry. Businesses were skeptical whether it could provide a real travel experience to tourists or not. Many experts said it is only theoretically possible, while others believe it will be possible in the future.
But, with the advancement of technology, this concept has become a reality now.
Now, travel businesses and tourism agencies are leveraging the Metaverse technology for various purposes.
Curious to know more? Give this blog a read as it covers detailed benefits of Metaverse and its use cases in the travel and tourism industry. Moreover, we have also provided a roadmap that you can use to develop a customized Metaverse solution for your tourism business.
So, are you ready to gain some profound knowledge? If yes, then let’s get started.
Metaverse for Virtual Tourism: Latest Statistics
Read this section’s latest market statistics regarding Metaverse for the travel and tourism industry.
- According to reports, the global metaverse in the travel and tourism market is expected to be worth $ 220.8 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 26.6%.
- Mckinsey stated that the metaverse creates a $13 billion opportunity for tourism inspiration, mostly driven by digital travel advertising.
- The latest survey of Accenture reveals that 53% of travel executives state that the metaverse will positively impact their organizations, with 25% expecting a breakthrough or transformational impact.
By analyzing these numbers, it is clear that the Metaverse will transform travel and tourism significantly in the next few years. Travel and tourism companies worldwide will adopt the technology because of the unmatched benefits it brings along.
Benefits of Metaverse in the Travel and Tourism Industry
The Metaverse brings various benefits to the travel and tourism industry. Some of the primary advantages are as follows:
- Virtual Tours and Experiences
Many tourism companies and reputable hotels have started leveraging Metaverse technology to offer virtual tours and experiences of places and hotels, allowing travelers to make informed travel decisions.
Also, tourists find this quite helpful and interesting to tour a new and unknown destination virtually before visiting the place in reality.
- More Personalized Experience
Metaverse in Travel and Tourism provides a more personalized experience to travelers and tourists. Through Metaverse, tourists can explore various places, do activities, and meet people which is quite difficult in real-time travel.
- Increased Safety for Tourists
In traditional travel, there is a huge risk of threatening attacks and robbery cases on the tourists visiting a new place.
According to reports, while theft is the most prevalent offense committed against tourists, they are also subject to physical and sexual assault, scams, and credit card fraud.
Leveraging the Metaverse, tourists can visit several vulnerable places safely without any risk. As it is a virtual space, there is no risk of getting lost, crimes, or accidents, because of which users can enjoy their trips free from any apprehension or fear.
- Increase Booking Volume
Metaverse in the travel and tourism industry plays a significant role in increasing the booking volume of hotel rooms, restaurant tables, amusement parks, historic places, and many others.
By offering virtual tours of new places and tourist attractions, tourism businesses can promote tourism and influence people to visit particular places, hence, increasing bookings of local hotels, restaurants, and other places.
- Sustainable Development
Metaverse in Tourism can also contribute to sustainable development in many ways. Tourists can use Metaverse technology to visit unexplored places, without disturbing the balance of nature.
Also, the immersive technology can used to visit tourist destinations during peak times, reducing overcrowding, and ultimately contributing to the environment.
With so many benefits, tourism businesses have started developing Metaverse platforms to provide virtual tours with enhanced immersive experiences to people and help them make decisions regarding their travel plans.
Now, let’s move forward and explore the steps of developing Metaverse for the travel and tourism industry.
How to Develop A Metaverse for the Tourism Industry
To develop a Metaverse platform for the travel and tourism industry, you need to create a digital, immersive environment that users can use to conduct travel-related activities.
Thus, we provide a step-by-step guide to developing a Metaverse platform for the travel and tourism industry.
Step#1. Evaluate Objectives and Scope
The first and foremost step to developing a Metaverse platform for the tourism industry is to clearly define the objectives and scope of your platform.
Determine what purposes will it fulfill, whether it will be used for virtual tourism, making bookings and reservations, travel planning, or a combination of all.
Based on this, decide the features and functionalities you want to include in your Metaverse platform.
Step#2. Research and Understand the Target Audience
Research the market and evaluate your competition providing virtual tours, immersive booking experiences, and more. Determine their plus points and weaknesses and plan your Metaverse for travel and tourism accordingly.
Also, carefully evaluate your target audience before developing your Metaverse platform.
Step#3. Choose the Platform, Tools, and Technologies
After analyzing the market and determining the target audience, it is time to select the platform, tools, and technologies to develop the Metaverse for the tourism industry.
There are many options of platforms that you can choose from, such as Decentraland, Roblox, Cryptovoxels, Sandbox, and many others. Similarly, you can choose the ideal technology stack to develop the Metaverse platform for the tour and travel industry.
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Step#4. Design the Wireframe
After deciding on the platform, tools, and technologies, design the wireframe of your Metaverse platform. It should be easy to navigate, immersive, and 3D modeled to provide an enhanced and realistic user experience.
Step#5. Begin with the Development Process
Based on the wireframe, create your virtual world to provide your users with realistic travel experiences immersively. Design and develop realistic 3D modeled designations, landmarks, hotels, and other attractive points.
Also add interactive elements, such as informational overlays using augmented reality technology. As developing a compelling and sophisticated Metaverse is a tedious task, you can get in touch with the top Metaverse development companies for professional assistance.
Once the content creation process is complete, begin with integration with data and APIs. Add real-world travel data, such as flight and train information, hotel availability, local attractions, and others. APIs from travel businesses and tourism boards can be useful in this case.
Also, if your Tourism Metaverse involves transactions, integrate e-commerce functions such as hotel bookings, ticket reservations, and so on, as well as secure payment gateways, and user data security.
Step#6. Testing and Quality Assurance
Once the Metaverse development for travel and tourism is done, conduct the beta testing with a select group of users to gather feedback and identify potential issues and irregularities.
Afterwards, fix the bugs if there are any, and make improvements using that feedback.
Step#7. Launch, Maintenance, and Update
After testing, your Metaverse for tourism is ready to use. You can use it for your travel business or offer it to other tourism businesses on a subscription basis and generate additional revenue.
A major factor you need to keep in mind is that Metaverse platforms require maintenance and upgrades at regular intervals, thus, keep updating it to stay competitive in the market and provide users with enhanced travel experiences.
By following this development guide for travel and tourism, you can develop a customized Metaverse for the tourism business. Now, let’s explore the various use cases of Metaverse in the tourism industry.
Also Read: Metaverse in Healthcare
Use Cases of Metaverse in the Travel And Tourism Sector
The various use cases of Metaverse technology in the tourism and travel industry are:
- Virtual Tours
Virtual Tours are the top use cases of Metaverse in the tourism industry. Travel businesses leverage immersive technology to offer tours of tourist destinations, such as the Alleys of Venice in Italy or the beautiful museums of Marrakesh in Morocco.
By touring the destination virtually people can make informed decisions about their travel.
- Virtual Theme Parks
Similar to virtual tours, Metaverse is also being used by famous travel and tourism agencies to offer clients immersive experiences of their favorite theme parks.
For instance, Disney has leveraged Metaverse, allowing Disney fans to take virtual theme park adventures from the comfort of their homes, visiting their favorite rides and attractions.
- Online Bookings and Payments
Many tourism businesses provide virtual environments, which users leverage to book hotels, restaurant tables, and more by checking the availability in the virtual world.
Moreover, they can also pay securely through blockchain technology without exiting from the Metaverse.
Also Check: Metaverse Game Development
Cost of Developing Metaverse for Tourism
The Metaverse for tourism development cost significantly depends on various factors, such as
- The platform used to develop the Metaverse
- Features and Functionalities
- Tech Stack used in Development
- Size and Location of the development team
- Size of the Metaverse platform, and many more.
Based on these factors, the cost of developing Metaverse for tourism may range from $30,000 to $400,000, or more. It is important to know that these costs are estimations. You can contact our experts and discuss your idea to know the exact cost of development.
Must Read: Metaverse Platform Development
Summing Up
With the emergence of technologies, Metaverse in the travel and tourism industry is going to be one of the profitable businesses in the coming years. Although major tourism companies have already developed various Metaverses, other travel agencies are also embracing the technology and have started to develop.
Thus, it has become crucial for travel and tourism businesses to invest in Metaverse development to provide users with enhanced experiences and stay relevant in the market for a long time.
Using this guide, you can also develop a customized Metaverse platform tailored to your needs. But still, if you need any sort of assistance, we are here to help. Get in touch with our experts to get your Metaverse platform developed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. Will Metaverse replace travel?
The Metaverse will become an integral part of the travel and tourism industry in the coming years, but it will not replace travel completely.
Q2. Is developing Metaverse for travel and tourism a good idea?
Yes, developing a Metaverse for travel and tourism is one of the top Metaverse business ideas for the next few years.
Q3. Can Metaverse help in the growth of the tourism industry?
According to experts, Metaverse will play a significant role in growing the tourism industry at an exponential rate.
Q4. What devices are required to access the tourism Metaverse?
You would require modern smartphones and computers, VR headsets, AR Data Glasses, and Mixed Reality headsets to access the tourism Metaverse.
Q5. Is it possible to book real-world travel experiences within a tourism Metaverse?
Yes, some Metaverses have ‘Booking Systems’ that allow users to plan and book real-world travel experiences directly from the virtual environment.