Reflections on the theme issue outcomes

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to profile the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes ( WHATT ) theme issue ‘How can communities manage rapid tourism growth? The experience of Macao and other destinations?’ with reference to the experiences of the theme editor and writing team. Design/methodology/approach 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. Findings The paper observes that involving authors with different academic and professional backgrounds in fields as diverse as urban planning, economics, transportation and heritage management 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. Practical implications 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. Originality/value 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 authorative call to action in response to the problems highlighted.