A phenomenological view of the concept of metaverse within the scope of tourism value chain

This thesis study examines the effects of the metaverse, which is rapidly developing with the developing technology, on the tourism value chain through a phenomenological approach through tourism value chain stakeholders. The metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual universe created by the use of technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, wearable technologies and blockchain technologies of physical and digital worlds. It is known that users in this universe carry out their interactions through characters called avatars. The study was carried out with unstructured interviews conducted after the tourism value chain stakeholders of this technology tried the relevant technology and with a phenomenological approach. Phenomenology is a philosophical method that deals with the in-depth examination of people's experiences, consciousness and perceptions with phenomena. The aim of the study is explained as understanding the effect of the use of metaverse technology in the tourism sector on tourism value chain stakeholders. In line with the purpose of the study, the outputs of the semi-structured interviews conducted with the participants were examined with a phenomenological approach, divided into themes and explained in line with the created themes. As a result of the study, it was concluded that tourism value chain stakeholders currently have limited views on metaverse concepts, but they should be given space to include them in their subjective fields and use them in the tourism field in line with their metaverse experiences. Keywords: Metaverse, virtual, digital, blockchain, tourism value chain