Never-Ending Tourism: Tourism Experience Scenarios for 2030

Barbara Prodinger () and Barbara Neuhofer ()
Additional contact information
Barbara Prodinger: University of Applied Sciences Salzburg
Barbara Neuhofer: University of Applied Sciences Salzburg

A chapter in Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2023, 2023, pp 288-299 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The advent of recent technological advancements, and particularly, the metaverse, has brought unprecedented opportunities for tourism. The integration of multiple realities extends tourism beyond the traditional chronological classification of pre-travel, during-travel, and post-travel stages. The novel concept of never-ending tourism captures a holistic multi-dimensional experience in which technological solutions are at the foundation to elevate tourism to an on-going, never-ending activity that permeates every day and travel life. This study adopted a futures methods approach through qualitative in-depth interviews and a scenario development supported by a storytelling technique. The findings present three distinct scenarios of never-ending tourism on a spectrum of digital companion, digital escape and digital connection. The scenarios suggest a growing importance of the pre-travel and post-travel phases, while technologies continue support visitors to enjoy the irreplaceable multisensory experiences on site. Towards 2030, the metaverse will enable visitors to mentally teleport themselves to destinations, regardless of time, financial resources and physical abilities. Individuals will seamlessly move between integrated digital and physical realities, where the engagement with travel becomes a part of daily life. The study is novel and original in that it empirically explores the emerging concept of never-ending tourism and contributes to the wider metaverse discourse in the tourism context. Several practical suggestions and future research directions are given to unlock the potential of never-ending tourism in relation to integrated experience design, new business models and long-term customer engagement.

Keywords: Metaverse; Virtual tourism; Never-ending tourism; Digital experiences; Digital twin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-031-25752-0_31

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783031257520

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-25752-0_31

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().