IFTM students from the Bachelor of Science in Hotel Management collaborated with a Macao-based consortium of high-tech organisations called Sustaincia.org to develop concepts for the application of the metaverse in the hotel industry. Dr. Fernando Lourenço, the facilitator of the Entrepreneurship course, guided students to find examples of the use of metaverse or equivalent technologies in the hospitality sector from around the world to obtain best practices and understand the present status of the technology.
It was discovered that technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), or Mix Reality (MR) in the form of a virtual space owned and managed by a single brand or firm are the most widely used model in the industry. However, the true concept of the metaverse is yet to be fully developed and implemented, with the goal of creating a shared virtual world for people to experience as if they were in real life, allowing interactions and connecting people, companies, and governments, and allowing people to create, own and invest in digital assets. The students then reviewed a variety of scientific articles linked to the usage of the metaverse in order to obtain a better grasp of the area and uncover relevant research results related to tourism business operation, visitor attitude and behaviour.
After the initial research, the students proposed a wide range of metaverse-integrated hotel sector concepts and business models to better serve tourists' needs and streamline hotel operations. The presentation took place at the H853 Fun Factory of the Lisboeta Hotel with representative from the Sustaincia. IFTM recognises the significance of inspiring the next generation to be leaders and is always exploring new pedagogic methods to provide students with more seducational opportunities while also giving back to the local community.