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Profiles the WHATT theme issue ‘ What innovative strategies are needed to develop tourism in Guyana for 2025?’ with reference to the experiences of the theme theme editors and writing team.

Uses structured questions to enable the theme editors to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting-point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

Examines the past and current state of tourism from the standpoint of a number of sector components – community-based tourism, policy, human resources, entrepreneurship among others; assesses the local and global environment impacting upon the development of the industry and explores what the theme editors regard as viable paths to a tourism sector in the year 2025.

This theme issue has a number of practical implications. Scholars and researchers may be inspired to undertake comparative studies of the trajectories of tourism development observed in emergent tourism destinations like Guyana. Those who work in tourism planning and administration will find the retrospections and proposals made of considerable value, even as those, in some cases, provoke lively debate.

This theme issue adds to the growing corpus of research and writing that focuses upon the Caribbean. While the Caribbean as a whole, or individual States, may have been the subject of research, there has been comparatively little written about Guyana as a tourism destination. This gradual increase in scholarly interest may indeed parallel the growth of the tourism industry in Guyana itself. The raft of consultants’ reports is now enriched and diversified in this theme issue that asks the hard questions and makes bold proposals.

The purpose of this paper is to profile the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue “The hospitality and tourism industry in Canada: what are the main challenges and solutions?” with reference to the experiences of the lead theme editor and the writing team.

This paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editor to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting-point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

It has been observed that involving authors of different academic and professional backgrounds in all aspects of hospitality and tourism is daunting but valuable. The outcomes of a broad-ranging collaboration yield fresh insights, a deeper understanding of the issues and an array of possible responses to the theme issue question.

The theme issue outcomes provide lines of enquiry for others to explore and reinforce the value of WHATT’s approach to collaborative working and writing.

The collaborative work reported in this theme issue offers a unified but contrarian response to the theme’s strategic question. Taken together, the collection of articles constitutes a provocative yet authoritative call to action in response to the problems highlighted.

This paper aims to profile the Worldwide hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) issue “What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?”, with reference to the experiences of the theme editor and writing team.

This paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editor to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

This paper provides a framework to facilitate discussions between international scholars in hospitality and tourism to re-define a buzzword. For this theme issue, the buzzword was “innovation”. Summaries of 13 papers written on innovative strategies in hospitality and tourism around the world were then analysed to fine-tune the definition.

The theme issue outcomes provide lines of enquiry for others to explore and reinforce the value of WHATT’s approach to collaborative research and writing.

The collaborative work reported in this theme issue offers a unified but contrarian response to the theme’s strategic question. Taken together, the collection of articles provides a detailed picture of the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism.

This paper aims to provide a backdrop to the Worldwide Hospitality Themes (WHATT) theme issue (volume 9, issue 4) on aspects of the hospitality and tourism industry of Canada.

Canadian hospitality and tourism educators and their counterparts in the industry have collaborated periodically to discuss the challenges they face and to find practical solutions. Outcomes of ten key initiatives in Canada during the past 15 years that brought leaders of the hospitality and tourism industry and academia together to create 50 academic papers are summarized.

This paper provides key information on Canada, its people, its economic conditions and the challenges of the five sectors of the tourism industry in Canada. By introducing the main challenges faced by each sector, this paper provides a foundation for the other articles that follow in this WHATT theme issue.

Canadian tourism is losing ground, tourism marketing budgets are significantly reducing and there is a labour shortage crisis which are identified as key challenges requiring urgent attention. In conclusion, the authors suggest practical solutions.

Readers who are interested in the Canadian hospitality and tourism industry will find this paper to be of interest.

This paper aims to provide practical solutions to the strategic question: “The hospitality and tourism industry in Canada: what are the main challenges and solutions?”. It aims to capture the essence of scholarly contributions made by 25 Canadian experts and provide a conclusion to the Worldwide Hospitality Themes (WHATT) theme issue (v.9, n.4) dedicated to Canada.

The paper draws from key concepts, suggestions and solutions written by 25 Canadian authors in the previous papers of this theme issue. It is worth noting that these authors together have more than 700 years of experience in managing, operating and teaching all aspects of the tourism and hospitality industry. The paper presents nine summaries in the following order: the state of the industry (introductory article); finding innovative solutions for HR challenges (four articles); and new trends and innovation (four articles)

In conclusion, 20 recommendations relating to human capital enhancement, as well as general suggestions, are made to embrace useful trends and innovative thinking for future progress in Canada’s hospitality and tourism industry.

As this paper is a combination of many perspectives from nine co-authored articles, there is no single focus to draw common conclusions. For further information and analysis, it is recommended that the relevant articles from this theme issue be reviewed.

Readers interested in the Canadian hospitality and tourism industry will find this paper to be of interest.

This paper aims to answer two questions: What is the sharing economy? and How is the sharing economy affecting tourism in Canada?

The foundation of this paper was laid during a major industry event held in Ottawa in 2016 – the Ontario Tourism Summit, an annual industry conference organized by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario (TIAO), attended by 650 industry participants. This paper is based on presentations made at the summit. The article provides key information on Airbnb and the role of TIAO in the context of shared economy.

Companies such as Airbnb, Uber and Turo have made the concept of sharing economies an everyday concept. As sharing economy is considered as a phenomenon that is here to stay, Canadian tourism and hospitality industries should embrace the disruption caused by it and ensure that this is done for mutual benefit of all stakeholders. Five key suggestions are made by the authors in their conclusions.

As this paper is mainly based on the authors’ viewpoints, prior to implementing their recommendations, further dialogue with all relevant stakeholders is needed.

This paper draws upon the authors’ experience working with Canadian tourism companies and incorporates their thoughts for practical solutions.

This paper aims to find answers to two research questions: What is the perception of the Moravia community on tourism in their neighbourhood? What are the conditions under which they can accept slum tourism?

The foundation of this paper was laid during a field trip to Medellin, Colombia, in March 2018. More than three weeks were spent in the neighbourhood of Moravia, one of Medellin’s “barrios” or slums, where a qualitative study was led. Semi-structured interviews with the local community were done around the neighbourhood.

The main finding of this research is the positive perception of slum tourism within the Moravia community. The researchers found that the locals are proud when outsiders visit to see their neighbourhood. The locals felt that, it breaks the prejudice surrounding their homes, and tourists are seen as spokespeople for the barrio. There are visible improvements made to the barrio owing to tourism. This research drew attention to the conditions under which this type of tourism can be accepted in the neighbourhood: community participation, interaction between hosts and tourists, education and respect of tourists and the visible improvements to the neighbourhood.

Slum tourism is an understudied topic in Colombia, especially in Medellin. By researching on the host perception on slum tourism, this paper contributes to literature on slum tourism from a new angle.

This paper aims to address the key sustainability issues in Canada's tourism and hospitality industry.

The foundation for this paper was laid during a well attended Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) roundtable discussion between industry leaders and hospitality educators in May 2012.

The paper provides valuable information on the concept of sustainable development and outlines key sustainability issues and trends in the Canadian tourism and hospitality industry. The umbrella organization for the hotel industry in Canada, the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC), collaborates with key stakeholders to find innovative and sustainable solutions to challenges the industry is facing. Top future trends are captured in the conclusion.

As the team of authors includes the president of the Hotel Association of Canada and a partner/Canada's national leader of the sustainability practice in the world's largest consulting firm, this paper will be of immense value to students, educators, researchers and industry leaders. Supports two innovative economic options to boost Canada's tourism marketing – reinvesting a portion of international visitor's GST and charging an international visitor arrival levy.

The paper draws on sustainability theories and best practices in Canada to explain the role of innovation in facing challenges in the tourism and hospitality industry in Canada. As the team of authors represents both the industry and academia, this paper will be of immense value to students, educators, and researchers, as well as practitioners.