In recent years, the metaverse has been rapidly developing and has shown extensive application prospects in industries such as marketing, healthcare, social entertainment, and education and training. Against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the severe impact on the tourism industry, the metaverse has also demonstrated its potential in empowering the tourism sector, bringing new development opportunities. However, research and discussions on metaverse tourism are relatively insufficient compared to its level of interest. Existing studies mainly focus on the technological aspects and prospects.
In this study, a moderated mediation model was used to empirically analyze the behavioral intention of metaverse tourists. The results showed that tourist satisfaction plays a significant mediating role between metaverse usage motivation and metaverse tourism behavioral intention. The level of metaverse tourism authenticity and flow also has a moderating effect on the relationship among motivation, satisfaction, and intention. Regarding the relationship between satisfaction and intention, both authenticity and flow had a significant inverse moderating effect. Additionally, authenticity exhibited a significant positive moderating effect between the uniqueness factor of motivation and satisfaction, as well as a significant inverse moderating effect between the sociality factor of motivation and intention. Flow had a significant positive moderating effect between the culturality factor of motivation and satisfaction, as well as a significant positive moderating effect between the culturality factor of motivation and intention. These findings are of great significance in understanding the behavior of metaverse tourists.
The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the motivations and preferences of metaverse tourists, to develop targeted marketing strategies and provide directions and suggestions for the future development of metaverse tourism. Moreover, the popularity of metaverse tourism as a recent topic indicates its high academic significance, and further exploration aligns with current research trends and the demands of modern scholars.