Reflections on the theme issue outcomes : What are the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism in the world?

Purpose 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. 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 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. Practical implications 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. 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 provides a detailed picture of the key innovative strategies needed for future tourism.