Xiaobin Lin

Date of Award

2024

Document Type

MA Project - Open Access

Project Type

MA Project - Business Plan

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Zhang Jin

Abstract

Rapid growth of 3D visualisation technology has led to the maturation of metaverse, bringing innovative and immersive experiences to travellers and representing tremendous potential for revolutionising the tourism industry. Advantages of metaverse, plummeting cost of technology and emerging supportive policies are jointly building up a very promising future of metaverse in tourism. Big companies worldwide are heavily investing in metaverse. In China, Tencent SSV Digital Culture Lab has initiated the annual project “Explore Metaverse Plan”, providing a communication platform and exhibition opportunity for the small and midsize players working on the digitalisation of cultural and artistic heritage. Google Art & Culture was launched in 2011, cooperating with 17 museums and in 2023, more than 2,000 museums in nearly 100 countries participated the program. In 2018, they cooperated with CyArk, launching the Open Heritage program, exploring iconic locations in 3D, on the frontlines against cultural destruction and protecting sacred sites at risk. Our business is to create a metaverse with 20 architectural kinds of traditional folk villages and houses from 16 Chinese provinces, offering virtual tours with possibility to enjoy details in real life or in historical records, aiming to partially solve the problem “a thousand cities with the same face”, frequently complained by domestic and abroad tourists traveling in China. This problem starts from Culture Revolution. Four Olds campaign destroyed phenomenal Chinese buildings and torn classical decorations and historical objects apart, removing more than 90 percent of cultural artefacts. In the 1970s, under the economic model of "production first, living later", a large number of traditional houses were demolished, a group of simple brick-concrete houses was created. From 90s on, modern architecture from abroad further replaced the traditional houses. The study and protection of traditional residential buildings, once was numerous and widely distributed, become a salvage work. We want to join this effort, starting from 3D modelling of the architectures and neighbourhoods and creating a metaverse, offering immersive experience as a virtual form of old cities 1 that we memorise, smart ones that we hope to live and future cities that we eager to explore. Our first product is 3D Modelling Platform of Fujian Tulou Cluster. In 2008, "Fujian Tulou" was officially inscribed on the World Heritage List. However it doesn’t stop young people abandoning Tulou and moving to modern buildings with more space, better lighting, running water, safe electricity and restroom, etc. Young people are no longer familiar with artisanal work and the craftsmanship gathered for centuries is gradually lost. Our metaverse not only models the physical sites and buildings, but also captures skills, knowledge, wisdom and memories. This thesis focuses on how to create the product and operate the project. The long-term significance is to understand the technique solutions and to facilitate the quick application of the learned lessons on other products, such as bamboo houses. In order to outperform our competitors and deter new entries, we focus on Content and Aesthetics, making them as our signature. Our strength is the multi-cultural and multi-profession team, covering several languages and life experiences in different continents. The main touch points of our business are travel inspiration and edutainment. Our two cash cow services are 1) field trips targeting at 9 to 14 years schoolers and offering tours as well as 3D modelling workshops; and 2) 24/7 virtual guide and language supports to non Chinese speaking visitors. We already have an oral commitment from one Hakka investor with $280,000 as start-up capital. The best scenario is this capital will support us until we reach the break-even in less than 2 years with the revenue generated from field trip service alone. Applying the same financial pattern on the rest of 19 products, the metaversa platform could generate the profit of $15 millions in the 10th year. Our business could also be financed by government entities and private foundations because the potential services in tourism market could have huge economic implications for societies. When the metaverse is equipped with the well modelled virtual houses and accurately designed Digital Twin towns, we will continuously create innovative, interactive and informative online and offline services and accordingly generate revenues.

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