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

This study examined practitioners\u27 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\u27 technical capabilities