Understanding visitors' metaverse and in-person tour intentions during the COVID-19 pandemic: A coping perspective

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a challenge to the development of global tourism. Metaverse tour, as an emerging travel pattern that combines metaverse characteristics, can bring positive implications for the digital transformation of tourism. However, there are few studies that integrate time and space to analyze the public’s intentions of metaverse tour and in-person tour, calling for a comprehensive research framework. Based on coping theory, a mixed-methods approach was proposed to incorporate several constructs to investigate the factors that influence public participation in metaverse tour. We further analyze the difference of public’s willingness to travel in-metaverse versus in-person at different times. This study enriches our understanding of the popularity of metaverse tour and the reasons for it, and provides insights into the further development of tourism to facilitate changes in the metaverse-based tourism pattern.