Experiential, quality travel experience will bring a more profitable tourism industry, Ms Cheatham asserts.

Attracting high-value visitors in order to develop a more profitable tourism industry should be Australia’s focus, rather than just pursuing growth in visitor numbers, says Ecotourism Australia.

The organisation’s chief executive, Kym Cheatham, said it was time to reinvent Australian Tourism as the current model “is not working”.

“The endless pursuit of growth in numbers is a hollow ambition, with mass tourism bringing profitless volume,” Ms Cheatham said ahead of the Global Eco Asia Pacific ecotourism conference to be held in Cairns this October.

Ms Cheatham said an alternative rests in high quality experiences founded on financially viable, environmentally sustainable and culturally responsible tourism products.

Backing this “alternative course”, Ms Cheatham pointed to the growing ecotourism industry across the Asia Pacific region, specifically in countries like Malaysia, Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam and Indonesia.

“Australia is one of the most desired landscapes in the world, with unique native flora and fauna and an indigenous culture that resonates with visitors from around the globe,” said Ms Cheatham.

Using South Africa as an example of a country that doesn’t apologise for the cost involved in high quality safaris, Ms Cheatham said Australia should be focussing on its unrivalled experiences for which people will be willing to pay.