Tourism marketing in the metaverse: A systematic literature review, building blocks, and future research directions

The aim of this research is to investigate tourist marketing within the embryonic context of the metaverse in order to comprehend the building blocks and the primary technologies employed in the sector. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted on 386 articles, with an overall qualitative a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2024-05, Vol.19 (5), p.e0300599-e0300599
Main Authors: Sánchez-Amboage, Eva, Crespo-Pereira, Verónica, Membiela-Pollán, Matías, Jesús Faustino, João Paulo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Augmented Reality
Book publishing
Computer applications
Confluence
COVID-19
Creative industries
Digital twins
Hotels
Humans
Literature reviews
Marketing
Mixed reality
Pandemics
Protocol
Quarantine
Recreation
Restaurants
Sales promotions
Social networks
Society
Systematic review
Tourism
Tourists
Travel
Travel industry
Virtual reality
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Summary:The aim of this research is to investigate tourist marketing within the embryonic context of the metaverse in order to comprehend the building blocks and the primary technologies employed in the sector. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted on 386 articles, with an overall qualitative approach that included 86 references, all of which dealt with the topic of the metaverse and had direct or potential implications for the tourism sector (hotels, restaurants, means of transport, leisure activities and destination itself). The articles are taken from: Science Direct, Taylor & Francis, Emerald, Springer and Google Scholar. The SLR was carried out according to the PRISMA search protocol. The results indicate the technologies that have been most thoroughly studied at the confluence of marketing, tourism, and the metaverse (AI, virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, blockchain, tokens (NFTs) and digital twins). Moreover, they establish the foundational components of tourism marketing in the metaverse for the first time (tourism products, the metaverse as a distribution and branding channel for tourism and, tourist customer as protagonist). Finally, the study exposes research gaps and recommends future directions for exploration (monetization of products in the metaverse, promotion and marketing strategies in the metaverse, new profiles for marketing professionals, policy development that regulates commercial activity in the metaverse).
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0300599