At least three industries in the Caribbean are expected to significantly benefit from the build out of the augmented virtual reality world being referred to as the metaverse.

According to Online Business Strategist, Keron Rose, there are several metaverses being developed. He was speaking on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds. Discussion around the space was however ignited with the rebranding of Facebook Inc to Meta, as that company moves to mainstream what’s shaping up to be the next big thing after the internet.

Online Business Strategist, Keron Rose

Tech company, Microsoft,  joined the list of companies building out a similar space last month.

“There’s a wide variety being built, we are very early and we’re going to see some interesting developments as time go by…It’s going to be a mix of augmented reality/virtual reality based on decentralized land and blockchain, so nobody really owns it and you’ll be able to buy up space in this virtual land,” said Rose.

He said the Caribbean’s tourism, culture and education sectors are those likely to immediately benefit from the metaverse land.

As it relates to tourism, he reasoned that people already go online to look at the offerings of other destinations, noting that the virtual world will enhance that user experience, leading to more visitors and tourism dollars.

“Picture Dunn’s River Falls, if I’ve never been there or Jamaica at all, and you guys [Jamaican authorities] can now create immersive sites and I can visit these places in the meta, that will entice me to want to visit the actual place.

He said the metaverse also offers an opportunity to also further highlight the history and culture of the region, without much hassle.

“Trying to sell stories is a bit of a stretch sometimes…We can now create immersive storytelling events where we can watch Caribbean stories in the metaverse and that’s something we can package and push globally without having to get people to come here,” he said.

The metaverse will also have a positive effect on the education sector across the region. Similarly to the trend today of tele-health, Rose said the metaverse will afford immersive training across various sectors, improving on the capacity already in the spaces.

Rose said he’s particularly looking forward to the collaboration that will come from the advanced world as some things are just not practical in the current 2D landscape.

 “Microsoft [for example] is focused on building these virtual rooms and breaking down the language barrier so I could meet someone in China and that person doesn’t even speak any English but we have our virtual avatars and we have the text bubble beside us and when I speak, it translates to Chinese and when he speaks it automatically translates to English and we can meet up and see our gestures and facial movements,” he reasoned.

At the same time, Co-Founder and Director of Tech Beach Retreat Inc, Kyle Maloney has cautioned that there will be increased security concerns with the evolving technology.

Co-Founder and Director of Tech Beach Retreat Inc, Kyle Maloney

“Where there’s technology there’s the proponents for bad actors and entry points. It is part of our life as we navigate tech at every point but as we begin to go deeper into this, it increases our ability to have security breaches almost a 100 fold,” he said.

He however agrees that there are Caribbean industries that will get a boost with the metaverse, noting that conversations around tourism and entertainment have been happening for some time now. 

We’ve been actively thinking about creating content to put in these spaces and I’m super excited to see what comes of it in the next few months. It’s going to be phenomenal [where entertainment is concerned because] everybody can be VIP now and have a front row seat [in the metaverse],” he said.

Within the region, Barbados recently announced their intention to build the world’s first metaverse Embassy. They’ve reportedly bought digital land on the biggest metaverse platform right now, Decentral Land where they are to build out the entity.

The development could potentially ensure a smoother visa process for people who may want to visit the country but without a physical embassy in their country of origin.

On the matter of metaverse real estate, both guests noted that it will be a gamble with prices to be influenced over time based on the popularity of each metaverse being created.

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