How should Canadian tourism embrace the disruption caused by the sharing economy?

Abstract

Purpose

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

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Practical implications

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

Originality/value

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

Citation

Sovani, A. and Jayawardena, C.(C). (2017), "How should Canadian tourism embrace the disruption caused by the sharing economy?", Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 464-470. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-05-2017-0023