ITB-Insights: Future-Proofing Tourism Down Under

The Whitsundays, Great Barrier Reef, Australia – Image: Tourism Australia

At this year’s ITB Berlin, the world’s largest tourism trade show, a good number of conversations centred on a difficult question: how does the sector remain viable in a rapidly changing climate system?

For Australia and New Zealand, this question is particularly relevant. Both countries have built global tourism brands around nature, conservation, and distinctive cultural landscapes. Yet they also rely heavily on long-haul aviation – one of tourism’s most carbon-intensive and technologically difficult sectors to decarbonise.

Balancing these realities will shape the future of tourism “down under”.

New Zealand: Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park – Image: Tourism New Zealand (TNZ)/Tom Gould

Nature as the foundation

Historically, Australia and New Zealand have been pioneers in nature-based tourism. Both countries have long traditions of national park management, biodiversity conservation, and outdoor recreation. Iconic landscapes – from the Great Barrier Reef to Fiordland – form the backbone of their visitor economies.

Increasingly, Indigenous cultures are also becoming central to tourism development and governance. In Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori concepts such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship of nature) are influencing tourism narratives and policy frameworks. In Australia, Indigenous tourism businesses and partnerships are expanding rapidly, creating opportunities for visitors to experience ‘Country’ through Indigenous knowledge systems.

These developments align closely with global discussions around regenerative tourism. The concept suggests that tourism should actively contribute to restoring ecosystems and communities, and it needs to do this in close partnership with local communities.

However, the structural context in which tourism operates is becoming more complex.

Image: Air New Zealand

The aviation dilemma

Both Australia and New Zealand sit at the far end of global travel networks. International visitors typically arrive via long-haul flights, often covering more than 10,000 kilometres. This creates an obvious tension. Tourism contributes significantly to national economies, but it is also a major liability in terms of decarbonisation.

Airlines such as Air New Zealand and Qantas are demonstrating genuine leadership in tackling this challenge. Both carriers are investing in sustainable aviation fuels, efficiency improvements, and nature restoration partnerships.

Yet even with strong corporate commitment, the reality is sobering. Sustainable aviation fuels remain limited by feedstock availability, production capacity, and competition from other sectors. Clean energy resources are also under intense demand globally as industries electrify. Under current technological trajectories, fully decarbonising long-haul aviation at scale remains extremely difficult.

This raises an uncomfortable but important strategic question: what would tourism look like if long-haul travel becomes constrained or significantly more expensive? Future-proofing tourism may require scenarios where international long-haul demand is lower than it has been in the past.

In New Zealand, Māori concepts such as kaitiakitanga (guardianship of nature) are influencing tourism narratives – Image: TNZ/Te Pā Tū, Rotorua

Sustainability momentum beyond politics

At the same time, both countries illustrate another dynamic that was discussed in Berlin: the political narrative around climate and sustainability is becoming less stable globally.

Governments are increasingly balancing climate action against competing priorities such as cost-of-living pressures, geopolitical tensions, and economic security. Sustainability narratives can therefore fluctuate depending on political cycles.

Australia has experienced this particularly strongly over the past decade, with climate policy oscillating between ambitious reform and periods of political resistance. While the current federal government has legislated a net-zero target and strengthened industrial emissions policies, the broader transition remains politically sensitive. New Zealand has also experienced shifts in emphasis depending on the governing coalition.

These oscillations create uncertainty for businesses and investors. But they also highlight where some of the most consistent progress in tourism sustainability is actually happening.

Certified Eco Tourism in Australia: Indigenous tours in Nitmiluk National Park, Northern Territory – Image: Nitmiluk Tours

Leadership at the destination and industry level

Across both countries, many of the most practical sustainability initiatives are emerging from destinations, tourism businesses, and industry associations rather than national politics.

Local tourism organisations and regional destinations are often leading on climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration, and regenerative tourism initiatives. Businesses are investing in energy efficiency, emissions reduction, and nature-positive operations – often because climate risk is becoming a direct operational concern.

Industry organisations play a particularly important role in translating ambition into practice. In New Zealand, Tourism Industry Aotearoa has developed practical programmes that support tourism operators in measuring emissions, setting reduction targets, and embedding sustainability into business models. These hands-on mentorship and support programmes help move sustainability beyond strategy documents into everyday operational decisions.

Rethinking resilience

Ultimately, the challenge facing tourism in Australia and New Zealand reflects a broader global reality. Climate change is accelerating, ecological systems are under pressure, and economic systems are adjusting unevenly. For tourism, this means that sustainability is no longer just a branding exercise or corporate responsibility initiative. It is increasingly about risk governance and long-term resilience.

For destinations that depend heavily on long-haul visitors, this requires strategic foresight. It means asking not only how to reduce emissions today, but also how tourism systems might evolve under fundamentally different travel patterns in the future.

The good news is that both Australia and New Zealand already possess many of the ingredients needed for such a transition: strong nature stewardship traditions, growing Indigenous leadership in tourism, innovative tourism businesses, and active industry networks.

The task now is to build on these foundations while preparing for a world in which tourism – like many sectors – must adapt to new environmental and economic realities.

Future-proofing tourism down under will depend on precisely that balance: protecting the natural and cultural assets that define the visitor experience, while confronting the structural challenges that come with being some of the most remote tourism destinations on Earth.

Susanne Becken, Prof of Sustainable Tourism, Griffith University, Australia

About the author:

Susanne Becken is a Professor of Sustainable Tourism at Griffith University in Australia where she focuses on research related to the science-policy-practice interface of transforming tourism. Susanne is a member of the Travalyst Independent Advisory Group, the EarthCheck Research Institute, the Te Araroa Trail Advisors, and the New Zealand Government Tourism Data Leadership Group. She is an elected Fellow of the International Academy of the Study of Tourism. In 2019, she was awarded the prestigious UNWTO Ulysses Award for her contribution to tourism knowledge.

NAN 12-3-26

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