Extensible Metaverse Implication for a Smart Tourism City

Pannee Suanpang (), Chawalin Niamsorn, Pattanaphong Pothipassa, Thinnagorn Chunhapataragul, Titiya Netwong and Kittisak Jermsittiparsert
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Pannee Suanpang: Faculty of Science & Technology, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Chawalin Niamsorn: Faculty of Management Science, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Pattanaphong Pothipassa: Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Sisaket Rajabhat University, Sisaket 33000, Thailand
Thinnagorn Chunhapataragul: Faculty of Science & Technology, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Titiya Netwong: Faculty of Science & Technology, Suan Dusit University, Bangkok 10300, Thailand
Kittisak Jermsittiparsert: Faculty of Education, University of City Island, Famagusta 9945, Cyprus

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-19

Abstract: The metaverse is an innovation that has created the recent phenomenon of new tourism experiences from a virtual reality of a smart tourism destination. However, the existing metaverse platform demonstrated that the technology is still difficult to develop, as the service provider did not disclose the internal mechanisms to developers, and it was a closed system, which could not use or share the user’s data across platforms. The aim of this paper was to design and develop an open metaverse platform called the “extensible metaverse”, which would allow new developers to independently develop the capabilities of the metaverse system. The acquisition of this new technology was conducted through requirements analysis, then the analysis and design of the new system architecture, followed by the implementation, and the evaluation of the system by the users. The results found that the extended metaverse was divided into three tiers that created labels, characters, and virtual objects. Furthermore, the linking tier combined the 3D elements, and the deployment tier compiled the results of the link to use all three parts by using the Blender program, Godot Engine, and PHP + WebGL as their respective key mechanisms. This system was tested in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, which was evaluated by 428 users. The results of the metaverse satisfaction, created tourism experience, and overall satisfaction of the variation of the satisfaction of using the metaverse were 86.0%, 79.7%, and 92.9%, respectively. The relative Chi-square (χ 2 /df) of 1.253 indicated that the model was suitable. The comparative fit index (CFI) was 0.984, the goodness-of-fit index (GFI) was 0.998, and the model based on the research hypothesis was consistent with the empirical data. The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) was 0.024. In conclusion, the extended metaverse is more flexible than other platforms and also creates the user’s satisfaction and tourism experience in the smart destination to support sustainable tourism.

Keywords: extensible metaverse; smart tourism; tourism intention; virtual reality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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