Kat,

Good to hear from you. As you may or may not know, Ron Mader visited Australia
recently, and as you can imagine this topic was discussed quite a bit. Tourism,
and ecotourism, is big business in Australia. Ecotourism Australia
(http://www.ecotourism.org.au/) seems to have a hands-off policy regarding small
to medium sized enterprises, instead concentrating on medium to large scale
operations, and involved mostly with certification issues. Additionally, the
cost of participation is quite high, something like a thousand dollars to attend
a few day conference. In northern New South Wales a group of small operators
has started their own regional organization, called the Northern NSW Ecotourism
Association or NNETA (http://www.nneta-ecotourism.org/). Many of the NNETA
members have been involved in the new Rainforest Way project
(http://www.rainforestway.com.au/) officially launched just the other day at
Murwillumbah in the Tweed Valley. The Rainforest Way is a series of drives
through local World Heritage listed National Parks, now partnered with
Greenfleet Australia (http://www.greenfleet.com.au/) for carbon offset as a
result of this green-travel group. Under the NNETA "Membership" and Rainforest
Way "where to stay/activities" pages you can find links to many "fair dinkum"
local ecotourism operators. One interesting example is the Quamby Falls Lodge,
billed as an exclusive "couple's retreat", personally run by Ian and Normajean
Gasking who only take one couple at a time. Apparently, International Centre
for Ecotourism Research (http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/icer/) director, Ralf
Buckley, has called their operation perhaps the best he's ever seen. Quamby
offers hands-on participation in rainforest regeneration through their Friends
of the Forest program.

Peace from Byron Bay,

- Marcus Endicott
http://www.mendicott.com


----- Original Message ----
From: Kat Morgenstern <kmorgenstern@...>
To: mendicot@...
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 6:31:05 AM
Subject: ecotourism in australia


Dear Marcus
I am a member of your green tourism forum and the director of Sacred Earth -
Educational Forum and Networking Resource for Ethnobotany and Ecotravel. I just
read that conversation on planeta and would be interested in learning more about
Australia's sustainability innovations with regards to tourism. I am an
ecotravel consultant, among other things, and I regularly visit travel trade
shows to keep my fingers on the pulse of global travel trends.
I am always shocked and baffled by Australia's and New Zealand's presence at
such fairs. I would expect the US to come up with the idea of a fortress-like
presence and not a word about eco-tourism, but no, its Oceania that presents
itself that way. Whatever ecotourism ventures there are out there, they are
doing a dismal job in colaborating with their respective tourist boards and PR
departments to promote their services and innovations abroad to travel
professionals around the world.
I have not been to Australia but I have been to New Zealand and I do know they
care a lot about environmental matters and that ecotourism is not an alient
concept there, but you would never think so if you try to visit their fortress
at international tourism trade fairs. As you seem to have personal knowledge of
ecotourism ventures and initiatives in Australia, I would be interested to hear
more about them.
I am looking forward to hearing from you,
Thank you
with best wishes and kindest regards
Kat


Sacred Earth
Educational Forum and Networking Resource
for Ethnobotany and Ecotravel
http://www.sacredearth.com