Over the last several years,the environmental and social impacts of the tourism industry have come to the forefront of global issues.This attention is due to the fact that tourism is considered the worlds largest industry and employs approximately ten per cent of the global workforce (Theobald 1998;Budeanu 1999;Pryce 2001).Due to the importance of this industry,there is a strong need to ensure that sustainable practices are implemented industry wide as environmental degradation has impacted several tourism destinations leading to a rapid decline in economy for many countries.Despite the movement to integrate sustainability practices into tourism destinations,considerations to reduce tourisms impact on the environment have been mainly conceptual to date and have not translated into industry wide practice ( Anguera,Ayuso et al.2000;Pryce 2001).This is the case in China,where sustainability practices have not been implemented on an industry wide basis and the burgeoning growth of the tourism industry has raised concern over the state of the environment ( Cheyne and Barnett 2001). In order to move the agenda forward,how to assist the Chinese tourism industry in ensuring that its resources are not degraded beyond repair must be established.This study attempts to move the Chinese tourism industry from attitude to action through understanding the barriers to implementing sustainability practices in the tourist accommodation industry.Using a case study of Sanya,Hainan,China,this paper seeks to explore the interrelated and independent impeding factors that affect sustainability in a tourist destination in the Chinese context.Strategies and incentives to overcome the identified barriers are also explored to ensure that the Chinese tourism industry has the tools to move from attitude to action in terms of sustainability.