Jan 9, 2022

Metaverse and Touristology: Breaking the Space/Time prison!!!

The other day, I was walking, running, practicing a little bit of Yoga and Kung Jung Mu Sul with my son.
He said to me….
    -  Dad, the other day I was reading your post about Metaverse.
   - It was you? I replied making another homage to Joan Massanés Vilaplana
   - … Why do you make so much emphasis with Hybrid Experiences? Is not the Metaverse all about visiting other worlds? Why do think that Touristologists are the best candidates to create transformative and customized hybrid experiences in this new world?
My son always provides intelligent questions. He remembers me My Touristologists .
Let’s see, if I can provide a good answer to him and to you…

Metaverse will open the possibility to Humans to be more similar to a God. We can be a little bit out of SPACE/TIME prison.

In the Metaverse, we can share an experience with our friends, relatives, members of our community even if they are in a different SPACE/TIME. We can be Tourists in one Tourism Destination and the others can be around the world… 

So, we can break SPACE.

What about the TIME? We can share an experience and rewind it at any moment!

Of course, we won’t break the SPACE/TIME duality totally, but we can be close to it!

In Touristology, we also have interesting concepts/frameworks dealing with SPACE/TIME duality. For instance, we have Servuction (the great contribution to Touristology of Eglier  and Langeard!)
In Tourism (as in Health and Education) we have a very important difference with other sectors! The customer is an input in the process of Servuction while that input it doesn’t exist in production. So, we need the Tourist here and now! 

Do you see? SPACE/TIME duality again!
On the other hand, trying to seduce Tourists at the right moment at the right time is the origin of Yield Management. We can define Yield Management as a set of Strategies and Tactics aiming to achieve two objectives
1) To seduce Tourists to make a reservation “today” that we have a low occupancy.
2) To seduce Tourists to make a reservation when we have a low “booking pace”.
What do you think Touristologists, Generic or Specialized Segments in the Metaverse?
In these new hybrid worlds, we can apply one of our favorite Touristology’s principles. As we always say, in YOUR METAVERSE… First Specialized, then Generic! So, nothing wrong with MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) BUT… first try to build your SMO (Specialized Multiplayer Online) where the members of the community will be members of a Specialized Segment and it will be easier to create groups and seduce them to appear in a transformative and customized Hybrid Experience, at a specific SPACE/TIME, in our Tourism Destination/Enterprise.

Do you see, Touristologists? If somebody, ask you who is better prepared to deal with the Metaverse… just listen to your inner Touristology’s voice…
Who is better prepared/trained for the Metaverse than experts in the Science of Travel?
Who can better create, communicate, and commercialize, transformative and customized Hybrid Experiences for Tourists travelling in different worlds?
Who can better visualize and implement Strategies and Tactics related to Yield Management?

Touristologists!!!

 
Today, 30 years ago, I gave my first class in Tourism!

 
Now, it is a great moment to be a Touristologists builder!
Let’s build together the Metaverse world. Let’s create, communicate, and commercialize the best Tourism packages.
Let’s improve the professional and personal life of Tourists while improving profits and sustainability for Tourism Destinations and Enterprises.


Can you feel my energy? It’s the most powerful force of the Universe. It’s the force of a dream burning inside… Touristology’s dream!!!