The Metaverse’s Impact on the Travel and Hospitality Industry
By RV Strategic Advisor, Michael Cohen
The Metaverse and the Travel and Hospitality industry are ideally aligned and have the potential together to deliver powerful utility, engagement and value to the guest/passenger’s experience.
The global travel and hospitality industry is absolutely a greenfield opportunity for Metaverse platforms and technology, primed for scale and expansion, specific to Metaverse and XR ( Extended Reality — including Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality digital activations) tech. A major reason being that there have been initial successful investments and test initiatives, both on the brand and enterprise level of hospitality and travel companies, who have enabled, an initial slice of Virtual Reality or a slice of Augmented Reality to strong customer engagement-focused results. Today, there is a clear opportunity to scale and expand the overall impact for this innovative technology.
According to the Accenture Technology Vision 2022, “Meet Me in the Metaverse: The Continuum of Technology and Experience Reshaping Business,” more than half (55%) of consumers agree that more of their lives and livelihoods are moving into digital spaces. In response, the vast majority (90%) of retail executives say that they anticipate that leading organizations will push the boundaries of the virtual world to make it more real, increasing the need for persistence and seamless navigation between the digital and physical worlds. Further, 72% of global executives state that the metaverse will have a positive impact on their organizations, with 45% believing it will be breakthrough or transformational.
The survey also found that half (50%) of consumers said that they are buying, or would be interested in buying, a travel experience such as a sightseeing tour or hotel stay through a VR-enabled platform. This figure rises to 55% of millennials, compared to 29% of baby boomers. For leisure, 54% of consumers said that they are buying, or interested in buying, tickets to a concert, a show or sporting event taking place in a virtual world.
When applied to the travel and hospitality global industry, this clear and impactful opportunity to shift a selection of digital communications and marketing executions to the Metaverse can absolutely drive hospitality, travel and retail organizations to efficiently strategize, extend and scale their customer/guest experiences, engagement and loyalty programs, through optimized, immersive and dynamic metaverse platforms and technology.
About the author…
Michael Cohen has over 20 years of innovative tech-focused, international strategic business development experience driving scalable and optimized go to market initiatives, across the hospitality, travel and retail sectors.
Specialising in global metaverse, VR, AR and XR solutions and commercialisation, Michael also shares his expertise as a metaverse mentor and advisor at the New York University’s Hospitality Hub Innovation Incubator.
Advising on strategic direction for the Americas, Michael’s role at RendezVerse focusses on driving impactful optimised commercial entry and growth, leading to enhanced company valuation, brand equity and market awareness for the rapidly growing brand.
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