The future of tourism: the metaverse as a tool for promoting sustainable tourism
Aman Kumar, Nitu Kumari · Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research · 2025
This study aims to explore the factors that motivate or demotivate learning organizations in the tourism industry to promote metaverse tourism instead of real-world tourism as a tool to enhance overall sustainability. A semi-structured interview approach was employed to explore how employees within tourism-focused learning organizations view metaverse tourism and its potential to contribute to the industry's overall sustainability. The data was collected from 32 respondents working in the tourism industry. The findings of this study revealed four motivating factors (cost-effectiveness, accessibility, environmental impact, and technological appeal) and four demotivating factors (technological barriers, investment costs, authenticity concerns, and economic disruption) that influence learning organizations to attain sustainability by promoting metaverse tourism among customers. Further, this study enriches the literature pertaining to sustainable tourism, metaverse and learning organizations. The findings of this study will guide learning organizations in understanding how tourism sustainability can be achieved through the use of the metaverse.