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Purpose -This paper aims to address the key sustainability issues in Canada's tourism and hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach -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. Findings -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. Practical implications -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. Originality/value -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.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide insights to the relevant past discussions, theories and projects; and sustainable tourism development in the Niagara region.Design/methodology/approachEach of the key four sections of this paper zooms in to specific areas. Outcomes from elite discussions involving 47 experts are followed by a concise literature review on sustainable tourism. The paper then analyses the concept of economic sustainability and reviews the outcomes from a blueprint for sustainable tourism development.FindingsThis paper discusses the economic pillar of sustainable tourism by outlining the negative and positive economic effects of the worldwide travel and tourism industry. In addition to reviewing the relative competitiveness of the world's travel destinations; with a focus on Canada's performance, it outlines strategies for Niagara region to enhance its competitiveness to support sustainable tourism.Originality/valueIn the recent years not much research has been carried out on the topic of sustainable tourism specific to the Niagara region. Therefore, this paper should be useful to a range of tourism stakeholders in Niagara region as well as readers involved in regional tourism development in other parts of the world. The versatility of the four authors – an administrator who chaired the Niagara Gateway Project, an academic researcher who has focused on sustainable tourism for a long period, a partner of a leading consulting firm and an applied researcher with significant international experience, makes the paper interesting.

During the economic downturns of 2008 and 2009, many US restaurant companies struggled to avoid heavy losses. However, some still managed to outperform the market and even made large profits in the midst of widespread economic difficulties. McDonald's was one such company and, in light of its example, many industry magazines and newspapers featured articles suggesting that a quick-service restaurant, with a lower income elasticity of demand, might be better able to survive during constrained economic conditions than upper-level restaurants. This paper empirically examines whether US restaurants' income elasticity of demand and actual financial performances during economic downturns are affected by the restaurant type. The findings suggest that restaurant type showed no significant effects on the income elasticity of demand for US restaurant companies, while fast-food restaurants showed significantly greater accounting performances than those of non-fast-food restaurants during recession. The insignificant differences in the income elasticity of demand and significant differences in accounting performances during the recession may suggest that fast-food restaurants implemented cost control more effectively than non-fast-food restaurants, and the authors' additional analysis confirms this.

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