The metaverse ecosystem is rapidly growing and encompasses a variety of business activities ranging from entertainment and commerce to education and employment. The metaverse is expected to introduce many innovations and disrupt every aspect of life. This will bring social and cultural impacts, as well as transformative opportunities and challenges for markets and communities worldwide. The tourism market is among the ones that experiences a dramatic disruption, since xReality (AR, VR, MR and XR) technologies enable virtual trips, upgraded and contextual visits, enhanced agent services and even futuristic touristic activities in virtual spaces. However, the adoption of the metaverse technologies by tourism enterprises is still unexplored and several parameters should affect such a decision. Understanding the value sources and these parameters can help tourism businesses in their decision-making process about investing in the emerging metaverse domain. The purpose of this work in progress article is to present the values that metaverse generates for the tourism ecosystem and explore the parameters that affect the adoption of metaverse by the tourism enterprises.

JEL Codes: L83, O33, Z30

Keywords: technology adoption, metaverse, tourism, TAM