According to an article online, at "Travel Today' May 23, Australia will lose its lustre to international travellers unless it “revamps” its products and launches into new markets, the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) has warned.

Addressing the annual ATEC Symposium in Hamilton Island over the weekend, ATEC managing director, Felicia Mariani, said Australian tourism was facing a “challenging” future as international  competitors launched new products and the Australian dollar continued strong.

And with overseas vendors now “aggressively” launching into markets which were previously dominated by Australia, such as backpacking, she said Australia was struggling to keep up.

“Competition is fiercer than ever, and meanwhile, Australian tourism has hit a plateau,” she said. “We need to reassess our market, develop new products and break into new sectors to stay on top of our game.”

While Australian tourism has not “fallen to the bottom of the heap”, with inbound visitor numbers rising 5.4% last year, Mariani said it was likely to flop without a new approach.

“We need to look at how we can  hone into the Australian market and provide unique, quality products ... otherwise we will lose our shine and competitive edge as travellers head  elsewhere,” she said.

Mariani said the China market had “significant growth potential”, and  suggested further investment in “authentic Australian experiences” were likely to keep Australian tourism at the top of the list.

But she stressed traditional marketing campaigns were not necessarily the answer: ”You can have the sexiest ads in the world, but if your product doesn’t project the experience people are looking for, it’s all lost effort.”