Metaverse as content or container? Exploring the future of customer experience in tourism

The Metaverse is emerging as a disruptive force capable of reshaping customer experiences, especially in experience-intensive sectors like tourism. Although scholarly literature has proposed conceptual models highlighting the immersive and hybrid capabilities of these technologies, little is known about how service providers perceive and interpret their potential. This study addresses this gap by exploring how tourism and hospitality actors envision the Metaverse's impact on customer experience, with particular attention to the circularity of the customer journey, defined as the continuous and recursive flow of engagement across interconnected digital and physical touchpoints. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research gathers insights from a diverse group of industry informants. The analysis is framed by two theoretical lenses: the Customer Journey Framework, which maps experiences across phases and interactions, and Consumption Value Theory, which interprets how various forms of value emerge in immersive contexts. Findings indicate that service providers partially validate academic expectations, viewing the Metaverse as immersive, inclusive, and capable of enriching customer interactions, while also reframing its potential through strategic, experiential, and operational considerations. By linking theoretical propositions with empirical evidence, this study contributes to debates on how immersive technologies shape value creation, experience design, and customer journey structures in digital ecosystems.