Stakeholders' Perspectives Towards Sustainable Tourism in Toronto

Tourism, despite all its benefits, impacts destinations in negative ways as well. Urban destinations are no exception to this, however, studies in the field of sustainable tourism have mostly targeted non-urban destinations. The City of Toronto, with its record-breaking number of tourists in 2017, is one such destination that has not received enough attention from academia in the field of sustainable tourism. The investigator in this study conducted fifteen interviews with public and private stakeholders and used qualitative methodology to generate first-hand knowledge on stakeholders’ understanding and practices in relation to sustainable tourism and the challenges that they are facing. The findings of this study suggest that sustainable tourism is not a well understood concept in Toronto and that the current sustainability practices are mostly haphazard. This research provides a starting point for the city officials to consider long-term policies towards supporting tourism while being mindful of its negative impacts.