As Hype Heats Up, Trip.com Says Metaverse No Substitute for Real-Life Travel

China’s tourism sector needs to up its game to head off emerging competition from the metaverse, the head of the country’s biggest online travel platform said Thursday, even as he waxed philosophical about the advantages of real-world travel and leisure.

While insisting that virtual reality was no existential threat to the industry, Liang Jianzhang, the co-founder and executive chairman of Trip.com Group Ltd., said tour experiences need to become more interactive, interesting, and immersive for consumers.