Open Access Research Article

The integration of metaverse technologies in health tourism: Opportunities, challenges, and a roadmap for patient-centric care

Authors

Reyhaneh Bidram * Department of Management, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.
Seyyed Amin Hosseini Department of Management, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.
Somayeh Salehi Department of Management, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.

https://doi.org/10.22105/metaverse.v2i4.90

Downloads

Abstract

This study aims to explore the transformative potential of the metaverse in the health tourism sector, specifically addressing systemic challenges such as communication barriers, cultural disparities, and patient anxiety regarding unfamiliar medical environments. Utilizing a systematic review of emerging digital health literature and a qualitative analysis of immersive technology integration, the research evaluates the impact of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the patient journey. The results indicate that the metaverse significantly enhances the patient experience by facilitating virtual consultations and immersive simulations of medical facilities, empowering patients to make informed decisions and reducing psychological stress. Furthermore, findings reveal that while the metaverse provides a vital platform for cultural and linguistic integration, its adoption is currently constrained by high infrastructure costs and complex data privacy concerns. This research contributes to the field by synthesizing existing scholarship into a strategic roadmap, offering a foundational framework for healthcare providers to develop personalized, efficient, and technologically integrated health tourism practices that redefine global patient care.

Keywords

Metaverse Health tourism Medical tourism Patient experience

References (47)

[1] Zhang, X., Chen, Y., Hu, L., & Wang, Y. (2022). The metaverse in education: Definition, framework, features, potential applications, challenges, and future research topics. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 1016300. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1016300

[2] Talukder, M. B., Huda, M. N., Kumar, S., & Hasan, M. M. (2025). Metaverse future of digital medical tourism. In Revolutionizing healthcare experience with digital medical tourism (pp. 173–198). IGI Global Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-7888-5.ch007

[3] Shaygani, F., Marzaleh, M. A., & Peyravi, M. (2022). Metaverse: A modern approach to medical tourism industry. Iranian journal of public health, 51(12), 2844. https://doi.org/10.18502/ijph.v51i12.11480

[4] Debnath, C., & Srivastava, A. (2025). Metaverse in tourism and hospitality: A framework-based systematic review. Human behavior and emerging technologies, 2025(1), 6662141. https://doi.org/10.1155/hbe2/6662141

[5] Tran, L. T. T. (2025). Metaverse-driven sustainable tourism: A horizon 2050 paper. Tourism review, 80(1), 349–359. https://doi.org/10.1108/TR-12-2023-0857

[6] Quigley, D. D., Elliott, M. N., Hambarsoomian, K., Wilson‐Frederick, S. M., Lehrman, W. G., Agniel, D., ... & Martino, S. C. (2019). Inpatient care experiences differ by preferred language within racial/ethnic groups. Health services research, 54, 263–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13105

[7] Jeong, E., & Lee, D. (2025). Metaverse applications in healthcare: opportunities and challenges. Service business, 19(1), 4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-024-00577-9

[8] Ahuja, A. S., Polascik, B. W., Doddapaneni, D., Byrnes, E. S., & Sridhar, J. (2023). The digital metaverse: Applications in artificial intelligence, medical education, and integrative health. Integrative medicine research, 12(1), 100917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.imr.2022.100917

[9] Rawat, D. B., & El Alami, H. (2023). Metaverse: Requirements, architecture, standards, status, challenges, and perspectives. IEEE internet of things magazine, 6(1), 14–18. https://doi.org/10.1109/IOTM.001.2200258

[10] Kaplan, A. M., & Haenlein, M. (2009). The fairyland of second life: Virtual social worlds and how to use them. Business horizons, 52(6), 563–572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.07.002

[11] Vignesh, S., Che, H. S., Selvaraj, J., Tey, K. S., Lee, J. W., Shareef, H., & Errouissi, R. (2024). State of health (SoH) estimation methods for second life lithium-ion battery—Review and challenges. Applied energy, 369, 123542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.123542

[12] Dong, H., & Liu, Y. (2022). Metaverse meets consumer electronics. IEEE consumer electronics magazine, 12(3), 17–19. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCE.2022.3229180

[13] Parekh, P., Patel, S., Patel, N., & Shah, M. (2020). Systematic review and meta-analysis of augmented reality in medicine, retail, and games. Visual computing for industry, biomedicine, and art, 3(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42492-020-00057-7

[14] De Regt, A., Barnes, S. J., & Plangger, K. (2020). The virtual reality value chain. Business horizons, 63(6), 737–748. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2020.08.002

[15] Gadekallu, T. R., Huynh-The, T., Wang, W., Yenduri, G., Ranaweera, P., Pham, Q. V., … & Liyanage, M. (2022). Blockchain for the metaverse: A review. https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.09738

[16] Zhu, H. (2022). MetaAID: A flexible framework for developing metaverse applications via AI technology and human editing. https://arxiv.org/abs/2204.01614

[17] Checa, D., & Bustillo, A. (2020). A review of immersive virtual reality serious games to enhance learning and training. Multimedia tools and applications, 79(9), 5501–5527. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-019-08348-9

[18] Waquar, A., Sujood, Kareem, S., Yasmeen, N., & Hussain, S. (2025). From traditional to virtual classrooms: Unravelling themes and shaping the future of metaverse education. Interactive technology and smart education, 22(2), 266–303. https://doi.org/10.1108/ITSE-02-2024-0032

[19] Ali, M., Naeem, F., Kaddoum, G., & Hossain, E. (2023). Metaverse communications, networking, security, and applications: Research issues, state-of-the-art, and future directions. IEEE communications surveys & tutorials, 26(2), 1238–1278. https://doi.org/10.1109/COMST.2023.3347172

[20] Pestek, A., & Sarvan, M. (2021). Virtual reality and modern tourism. Journal of tourism futures, 7(2), 245–250. https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-01-2020-0004

[21] Al Shamsi, H., Almutairi, A. G., Al Mashrafi, S., & Al Kalbani, T. (2020). Implications of language barriers for healthcare: A systematic review. Oman medical journal, 35(2), e122. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2020.40

[22] Agarwal, R., Badghish, S., Yaqub, M. Z., & Pandey, R. (2025). Customer engagement through metaverse-empowered retail channels: role of personalization. International journal of retail & distribution management, 53(6), 467–484. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-07-2024-0344

[23] Popov, V., Mateju, N., Jeske, C., & Lewis, K. O. (2024). Metaverse-based simulation: a scoping review of charting medical education over the last two decades in the lens of the ‘marvelous medical education machine.’ Annals of medicine, 56(1), 2424450. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2024.2424450

[24] Iragorri, N., de Oliveira, C., Fitzgerald, N., & Essue, B. (2021). The out-of-pocket cost burden of cancer care—a systematic literature review. Current oncology, 28(2), 1216–1248. https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol28020117

[25] Rodriguez, J. A., Saadi, A., Schwamm, L. H., Bates, D. W., & Samal, L. (2021). Disparities in telehealth use among California patients with limited English proficiency: Study examines disparities in telehealth use among California patients with limited English proficiency. Health affairs, 40(3), 487–495. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00823

[26] Aziz, H. A. (2018). Virtual reality programs applications in healthcare. Journal of health & medical informatics, 9(1), 305. https://doi.org/10.4172/2157-7420.1000305

[27] Bohr, A., & Memarzadeh, K. (2020). The rise of artificial intelligence in healthcare applications. In Artificial intelligence in healthcare (pp. 25–60). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-818438-7.00002-2

[28] Cantú, C., Franco, C., & Frost, J. (2024). The economic implications of services in the metaverse. In Global perspectives in the metaverse: law, economics, and finance (pp. 83–118). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54802-4_6

[29] Bokolo, A. J. (2021). Exploring the adoption of telemedicine and virtual software for care of outpatients during and after COVID-19 pandemic. Irish journal of medical science (1971-), 190(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-020-02299-z

[30] Zhong, L., Deng, B., Morrison, A. M., Coca-Stefaniak, J. A., & Yang, L. (2021). Medical, health and wellness tourism research—A review of the literature (1970–2020) and research agenda. International journal of environmental research and public health, 18(20), 10875. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010875

[31] Pandita, S., & Won, A. S. (2020). Clinical applications of virtual reality in patient-centered care. In Technology and health (pp. 129–148). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-816958-2.00007-1

[32] Afrose, N., Chakraborty, R., Hazra, A., Bhowmick, P., & Bhowmick, M. (2025). Implementation of metaverse for healthcare system modeling. Metaverse technologies, security and applications for healthcare, 325–350. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394305292.ch15

[33] Punj, S., Kejriwal, P., & Raja, S. P. (2024). Metaverse miracles: Enhancing healthcare experiences through virtual reality. International journal of learning and change, 16(4), 444–472. https://doi.org/10.1504/IJLC.2024.139753

[34] Lambercy, O., Lehner, R., Chua, K., Wee, S. K., Rajeswaran, D. K., Kuah, C. W. K., ... & Gassert, R. (2021). Neurorehabilitation from a distance: Can intelligent technology support decentralized access to quality therapy? Frontiers in robotics and ai, 8, 612415. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.612415

[35] Kuether, J., Moore, A., Kahan, J., Martucci, J., Messina, T., Perreault, R., ... & O'Connor, M. I. (2019). Telerehabilitation for total hip and knee arthroplasty patients: A pilot series with high patient satisfaction. HSS journal®, 15(3), 221–225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-019-09715-w

[36] Gopalkrishnan, N. (2018). Cultural diversity and mental health: Considerations for policy and practice. Frontiers in public health, 6, 179. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2018.00179

[37] Kim, M. J., Lee, C. K., & Preis, M. W. (2020). The impact of innovation and gratification on authentic experience, subjective well-being, and behavioral intention in tourism virtual reality: The moderating role of technology readiness. Telematics and informatics, 49, 101349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2020.101349

[38] Shu, S., & Woo, B. K. (2023). Pioneering the metaverse: The role of the metaverse in an aging population. JMIR aging, 6(1), e40582. https://doi.org/10.2196/40582

[39] Qiu, C. S., Majeed, A., Khan, S., & Watson, M. (2022). Transforming health through the metaverse. Journal of the royal society of medicine, 115(12), 484–486. https://doi.org/10.1177/01410768221144763

[40] Zhang, C., Zhao, M., Zhang, W., Fan, Q., Ni, J., & Zhu, L. (2023). Privacy-preserving identity-based data rights governance for blockchain-empowered human-centric metaverse communications. IEEE journal on selected areas in communications, 42(4), 963–977. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSAC.2023.3345392

[41] Shardeo, V., Sarkar, B. D., Mir, U. B., & Kaushik, P. (2024). Adoption of metaverse in healthcare sector: An empirical analysis of its enablers. IEEE transactions on engineering management, 71, 8671–8685. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2024.3400401

[42] Bansal, G., Rajgopal, K., Chamola, V., Xiong, Z., & Niyato, D. (2022). Healthcare in metaverse: A survey on current metaverse applications in healthcare. IEEE access, 10, 119914–119946. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3219845

[43] Baniasadi, T., Ayyoubzadeh, S. M., & Mohammadzadeh, N. (2020). Challenges and practical considerations in applying virtual reality in medical education and treatment. Oman medical journal, 35(3), e125. https://doi.org/10.5001/omj.2020.43

[44] Zaman, U. (2023). Metaverse going beyond adoption: The next frontier for global healthcare. Frontiers in public health, 11, 1194285. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1194285

[45] Delshad, S. D., Almario, C. V, Fuller, G., Luong, D., & Spiegel, B. M. R. (2018). Economic analysis of implementing virtual reality therapy for pain among hospitalized patients. NPJ digital medicine, 1(1), 22. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-018-0026-4

[46] Rhu, J., Lim, S., Kang, D., Cho, J., Lee, H., Choi, G. S., … & Joh, J. W. (2022). Virtual reality education program including three-dimensional individualized liver model and education videos: A pilot case report in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma. Annals of hepato-biliary-pancreatic surgery, 26(3), 285–288. https://doi.org/10.14701/ahbps.21-163

[47] Kyaw, T. H. (2025). Review the impact of strategic human resources management practices on employee engagement of bumrungrad international hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Journal of multidisciplinary research for smet (JMR-SMET), 1(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.64297/jmrsmet.v1i2.14

Article Metrics

Published 2025-12-23
Issue Vol. 2 No. 4 (2025): Metaversalize
Section Articles
Document Type Research Article
Views 751
Downloads 478

Categories

Metaverse Technologies

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Metaversalize

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

View License Details

How to Cite

Bidram, R., Hosseini, S. A., & Salehi, S. (2025). The integration of metaverse technologies in health tourism: Opportunities, challenges, and a roadmap for patient-centric care. Metaversalize, 2(4), 229-239. https://doi.org/10.22105/metaverse.v2i4.90

Download Citation

Crossref

Scopus

Google Scholar

Europe PMC

Similar Articles

Aryan Aaditya, IoT-based intelligent traffic control using cloud and edge computing , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024): Metaversalize
Jyotiraditya Das, IoT-enabled smart city governance using AI-based data analytics , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Metaversalize
Purbasa Dhal, AI-enhanced IoT security solutions for urban networks , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 2 (2024): Metaversalize
Soumyadeep Dafadar, Privacy-preserving models for IoT-based smart city infrastructure , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Metaversalize
Javad Pourqasem, Zeynab Parandavar, Transforming user experience in the metaverse through edge technology , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 4 (2024): Metaversalize
Joel Nithish Kumar Murugan, Padmavathi Vyshnavi Madarampalli, Shashikant Ramesh Yadav, Database security in psychiatry: leveraging large language models and blockchain for secure data managemente , Metaversalize: Vol. 2 No. 1 (2025): Metaversalize
Nikhil Tripathi, AI_assisted IoT systems for smart city public safety solutions , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 3 (2024): Metaversalize
Reyhaneh Bidram, Somayeh Salehi, AI avatars in the metaverse: Bridging technology and human-centric customer engagement , Metaversalize: Vol. 2 No. 3 (2025): Metaversalize
Sabyasachi Deb Biswas, Edge computing for smart city internet of thing device synchronization , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Metaversalize
Vanshika Rani, Blockchain-enhanced internet of thing networks for data privacy , Metaversalize: Vol. 1 No. 1 (2024): Metaversalize

1-10 of 43 Next

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Reyhaneh Bidram, Somayeh Salehi, AI avatars in the metaverse: Bridging technology and human-centric customer engagement , Metaversalize: Vol. 2 No. 3 (2025): Metaversalize