Photo: Unit 2 Games Limited
Individuals involved in the upcoming metaverse and technologies event in Phuket are looking forward to enlightening a route towards more gender inclusivity in the community.
“Phuket Goes Borderless in Health, Wellness and Hospitality to Prepare for Metaverse City Development,” a press conference held by the Borderless Health Care group on Monday to discuss the process of their collaboration with players from different industries, including real estate, hospitality, fitness, nutrition, pharmaceutical, and health care, in Phuket.
The partnership had helped them launch remarkable, immersive technologies as part of the newest goal of the Tourism and Sports Ministry and Digital Economy and Society Ministry in Metaverse City development.
A topic that was highlighted by those in the conference was how metaverse cities were potentially an advantage for marginalized groups as much as the general population, particularly the LGBTQIA+ groups.
The metaverse is an immersive digital world where people can socialize. With the notion of social media, it uses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and blockchain to create an environment for people to entertain themselves.
The worldwide LGBT community possesses 400 million individuals, and among the largest populations are in Thailand (4.2 million), China (75 million), and India (more than 70 million), said HIV and LGBT Medicine Specialist for the Aids Project LA Health and Wellness and University of California Internal Medicine Specialist, Wayne Ho.
“Together, this group had the annual spending power of $3.9 trillion [about 130 trillion baht] and $23 trillion in global household wealth. Despite the population size and economic significance, LGBT healthcare remained inadequate,” he stated.
With over 50% of the LGBT population receiving discrimination in the healthcare setting, he stated that several of them choose not to seek medical help for sexually transmitted diseases like HIV; even worse, they let it spread to others.
Moreover, he hinted that a Thailand metaverse could give new possibilities, particularly for the LGBT communities.
The International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association said that members of the LGBT traveled and spent more. LGBT tourists spent over $218 billion in 2018, mainly from the US, Brazil, Japan, the UK, and Germany.
