Can the hot Metaverse revolutionize the travel industry?

Advances in technology allow travelers to gain access to travel experiences before they start their trip.

Even if metaverse travel isn't fully realized yet, it will be the next big thing to hit the travel industry. Like space travel, build the idea and the fans will follow. However, instead of taking travelers to distant spaceships and spending the night in the stars, the Metaverse has arrived. It just needs to be redefined to set off a craze among travel enthusiasts.

To this end, citizenM, a fashion brand in the luxury hotel sector, is acquiring land in the "SandBox". SandBox is a popular decentralized gaming virtual world where users can explore virtual hotels and interact with other users.

In this digital space, NFTs can also be purchased.

Marriott is also moving into metaverse travel, a new and unformed field. Last December, the hotel company entered the meta-travel space. At Art Basel Miami Beach 2021 (Art Basel Miami Beach 2021), Marriott is presenting three elements of virtual art (Art Basel is a leading annual exhibition of contemporary art).

citizenM becomes the first hotel brand to acquire assets in Sandbox .

Metaverse is seen by Marriott as a new form of digital marketing targeting new audiences . But those observers of developments in the travel industry believe that the metaverse will bring more opportunities for the travel industry, and may change the concept as we know it.

A study on meta-travel released this month by Emergen Research suggests that the concept has the potential to change the way travelers shop before, after and during a trip , and become an important part of the travel ecosystem.

Travel companies are rapidly applying technology to create alternatives to on-site travel, investing more in creating 3D virtual tours and increasingly using the Metaverse platform to enhance hotel offerings . These key factors are expected to drive the market revenue over the forecast period.

Moreover, the increasing use of virtual worlds by travel companies to enhance the reputation of attractions , create immersive marketing experiences, and provide essential information to customers regarding room bookings, room sizes, and features is expected to be another factor driving market growth A key factor.

The widespread application of meta travel depends on cutting-edge AR glasses and complex mapping products, AI and 3D real-time integration, so the equipment is expensive, and producing these products for the ever-evolving platform requires a lot of time and money, so many more years of exploration.

But travel to a favorite destination, enter a hotel as an avatar, and interact with other people's avatars; or have a virtual dinner with friends at an exclusive Metaverse restaurant and pay for the meal with cryptocurrency; After dinner, heading out for a walk around town or to a museum , all in a virtual world that you can see and almost touch, will no longer be a pipe dream.

In this vision, the travel industry is expected to capture a sizable revenue share in the global market as the public becomes increasingly aware of the enormous potential of virtual worlds to change the dynamics of consumers choosing destinations, attractions and accommodations. .

Virtual and augmented reality and the Metaverse platform will enable users to experience destinations without actually being there where they want to go, and give them an early glimpse of what hotels and resorts can offer. Therefore, the report believes that it will not replace travel demand, but encourage travel demand.

In addition to the good timing required to create and apply this form of entertainment, meta travel has some drawbacks. Not only are these projects slow and complex — 3D modeling places, spaces, and travel is a huge investment — but access to these new spaces requires AR glasses, can cause dizziness, nausea, fatigue, and possibly bodily harm .

To date, the key players in this growing field are:

Boeing, Mytaverse, Marriott International, First Air, LynKey, Ariva, Color Star Technology Co. Ltd., Powerbridge Technologies Co., Ltd., Facebook Meta, Google and Microsoft.

Former Disney CEO Robert Iger is also working with a Metaverse-based company through a company called Genies. Genies is a 3D avatar startup that enables users to create custom digital avatars or personalized avatars for their social media profiles, or for traveling in the metaverse.

Airlines are working on the meta-travel track as a sales feature of premium class, giving travelers a glimpse of what it’s like to fly first or business class, with the hope that once they try it, they might never want to go back to economy.

The hope is that hotels will be able to showcase rooms and suites and offer tourists a dizzying array of vacation experiences that will prompt them to choose among pre-orders.

At the same time, Metaverse Raceway is transforming into a decentralized autonomous organization driven by blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. This could mean we are able to pay for select experiences and travel preferences in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum , even in other contexts.

We see on the Internet that NFTs, or personalized non-fungible tokens, have caused such a stir in artistic creation and trading that they have become ideal digital assets for travel companies to represent products such as air tickets and hotel reservations .

Since NFTs are actually encrypted assets that buyers store in encrypted wallets, they can store anything they need for real-world travel (such as money, plane tickets, and hotel reservations) in one place.

Travel advisors may become Metaverse receptionists, virtual avatars who meet their clients in that universe to manage their travel experiences. They will create new ways to shape travel and lobby customers to buy more expensive products while they are on vacation.

As the world heads down the next rabbit hole, we better know what to expect and what characters we might meet there.

Author: LARK GOULD | Translator: Jamee