Australian tourism operators cannot hope to compete on price with South-East Asia and should focus on high-value niche markets, the convenor of an international ecotourism conference says.
Operators and tourism experts will gather in far north Queensland next week for the Global Eco Asia Pacific ecotourism conference.
Conference convenor and tourism consultant Tony Charters says Australian industry leaders have been too focused on simply driving visitor numbers up.
"There is the goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure, which you could do by simply doubling the number of visitors, but there are several ways of skinning the cat," he said.
"Ecotourism provides an opportunity to look at longer lengths-of-stay and higher average spends, which drives up revenue."
Mr Charters said Australia could not compete on price with booming tourism destinations such as Bali and Thailand.
"We pay our hospitality and construction workers and anyone else involved in tourism per day more than our competition pays their workers per month," he said.
"We can never overcome that, so what we need to do is go back to the fundamentals of what makes an Australian holiday unique and worthwhile and appeal to a market that's looking for that."
Tasmania and New Zealand were good examples of destinations which had marketed their eco-friendly credentials in recent years, Mr Charters said.
"It has worked for Tasmania, and they have been pushing this consistently for 10 years," he said.
"But it does take a consistent and dedicated approach ... it's sticking with a concept and building on it, not flipping from one idea to the next."
The conference begins in Cairns next Monday.
Meanwhile, Emirates and Tourism Australia have agreed to spend $14.3 million over the next three years to promote Australia overseas.
The pair announced the joint marketing agreement in Canberra on Wednesday, with the focus to be on boosting visitors from countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and New Zealand.
The money will be spent on advertising and event and sponsorship activities, Tourism Australia said in a statement.
The partnership with Tourism Australia is the largest investment Emirates had ever made with a national tourism body, the airline's senior vice president for public, international, industry and environmental affairs Andrew Parker said.
Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy said the new partnership built on its cooperation with Emirates on some local marketing activities.
"Both parties have agreed there is now a need for a more strategic, longer-term agreement to more effectively market Australia to Emirates' extensive global customer base, in particular throughout Europe where the airline is so well established," Mr McEvoy said in a statement.
Dubai-headquartered Emirates and Qantas have announced a proposed 10-year global partnership that is currently being considered by the competition regulator.
The proposed tie-up would involve joint marketing, pricing and scheduling on flights between Australia and Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and across the Tasman, as well as reciprocal frequent flyer benefits.
AAP
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