If properly conceived, sustainable marketing should be one of the many tools used to balance preservation and tourism priorities at heritage sites. The problem, however, is that limited guidance is available to assist in the development of a sustainable marketing plan. This paper tests a proposed sustainable heritage tourism marketing model using a World Heritage Site case study – the Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada. A lacuna between the model's components and the marketing activities at the Rideau Canal is observed. In combination with other mixed results found in the literature, it confirms that the fundamental challenge is short-termism while sustainable marketing requires long-term investments. This study offers a framework and rational for sustainable heritage tourism marketing at the Rideau Canal and other heritage sites around the world. Given that “sustainable marketing” is a relatively new concept, this study offers an important contribution to the marketing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]