Innovative Escapes: Utilizing the Metaverse to Address Overtourism Concerns

The emergence of the metaverse presents transformative opportunities for the tourism industry, particularly in addressing the growing issue of overtourism. This paper categorizes these benefits and challenges to demonstrate how metaverse technologies can mitigate overtourism and promote sustainable tourism. The benefits include enhanced visitor experiences through personalization and immersive pre-visit opportunities, economic advantages such as cost reduction and new business opportunities, and improved sustainable destination management by monitoring and mitigating environmental impacts. However, the challenges involve technological barriers, cultural and social impacts, and privacy concerns. This paper's analysis highlights the balance needed between embracing technological innovation and addressing the potential drawbacks to ensure responsible and sustainable tourism development.

Keywords:

tourism , metaverse , overtourism , virtual reality (VR) , augmented reality (AR).