Tourist loyalty in the metaverse: the role of immersive tourism experience and cognitive perceptions

Purpose Metaverse technology is of interest to researchers and practitioners in tourism and hospitality. The metaverse offers tourists the capacity to enjoy unprecedented tourism experiences. These opportunities may radically change the tourism and hospitality landscape. This study aims to examine how metaverse experiences affect tourists' cognitive processing, satisfaction and loyalty toward metaverse tourism using the stimulus-organism-response paradigm and cognitive experiential self-theory. Design/methodology/approach An online survey was undertaken to gather information from 329 respondents who were frequent users of different metaverse applications to meet the study's objectives. Data were evaluated through partial least squares structural equation modelling. Findings The findings revealed that metaverse experiences, such as immersion, escapism and enjoyment, had a significant positive impact on metaverse organismic experience. Additionally, metaverse cognitive processing positively influenced metaverse tourist responses, including satisfaction and loyalty, with tourist involvement acting as a moderator. Originality/value This study provides guidelines for metaverse developers and travel industry professionals to encourage visitor satisfaction and loyalty to metaverse tourism.