Title of Paper

Will metaverse forever change the meeting industry? A qualitative study on industry experts’ perspective

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Seonjin Lee is a graduate student in the Department of Tourism and Convention at Pusan National University. He is interested in understanding new forms of tourism, sustainability of tourism industry, and utilizing machine learning technology for tourism research.

Jaeyoung An is a director at BEXCO, Busan Exhibition and Convention Center, and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Tourism and Convention at Pusan National University. He studied events management at the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University. His research interests are business events, event technology, and risk management.

Dongkeun Hur is a manager in the Exhibition Business Team at Gyeongju Hwabaek International Convention Center(HICO). His research interests are MICE, local specialized trade fairs, heritage tourism, and sustainable tourism.

Hany Kim, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Tourism and Convention at Pusan National University. Her research interests include travel marketing and behavior. She is currently focused on destination branding and cross-cultural issues in user-generated media.

Abstract (150 Words)

This study examined practitioners' opinions on how metaverse technology will affect the Meeting, Incentive travel, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. The authors took a qualitative approach and conducted semi-structured interviews on nineteen practitioners from different sectors of the MICE industry. Five emerged themes were related to substitutional versus complementary, the scope of application, technology, cost and profitability, and short-term and long-term prospection. Overall, the findings suggest that metaverse and virtual events cannot replace physical events. Though, it is prospected that metaverse technology will bring changes to the industry. Some of characteristics of metaverse events, such as reduction of cost and improvement of accessibility of the event, will be beneficial for both organizers and participants. However, it also poses challenges such as competition with traditional physical venues and reliance on participants' technical capabilities.

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Will metaverse forever change the meeting industry? A qualitative study on industry experts’ perspective

This study examined practitioners' opinions on how metaverse technology will affect the Meeting, Incentive travel, Conventions and Exhibitions (MICE) industry. The authors took a qualitative approach and conducted semi-structured interviews on nineteen practitioners from different sectors of the MICE industry. Five emerged themes were related to substitutional versus complementary, the scope of application, technology, cost and profitability, and short-term and long-term prospection. Overall, the findings suggest that metaverse and virtual events cannot replace physical events. Though, it is prospected that metaverse technology will bring changes to the industry. Some of characteristics of metaverse events, such as reduction of cost and improvement of accessibility of the event, will be beneficial for both organizers and participants. However, it also poses challenges such as competition with traditional physical venues and reliance on participants' technical capabilities.