The Narrative Surrounding the Metaverse in Tourism: Media Framing of Innovation in European News

Abstract

This study examines how national news media frame the metaverse and immersive technologies (VR/AR/XR) in tourism across major European markets. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on 126 open-access digital news articles published between 2024 and 2025 in leading national newspapers from Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and Portugal. Articles were retrieved using country-language keyword strings combining terms related to immersive technologies (e.g., virtual reality (VR), augmented reality, XR, metaverse, virtual tourism) with tourism-related descriptors. A codebook structured into three analytical dimensions (technology, marketing and tourism) with predefined subcategories was applied to each article. Two researchers independently coded the dataset, with disagreements resolved through consensus and intercoder reliability assessed using Cohen’s κ. The findings reveal a discursive hierarchy in which VR receives the greatest media visibility (n=72), predominantly framed as an operational and experience-enhancing tool within culturally legitimised contexts, particularly heritage and museums. In contrast, the metaverse appears less frequently (n=14) and is positioned in anticipatory and future-oriented terms rather than as a normalised tourism practice. These results highlight how journalistic framing shapes the symbolic positioning and perceived legitimacy of immersive technologies within tourism communication across European media contexts.