ABSTRACT
Indigenous tourism has become a trendy niche ever since the “new tourists” (Poon, 1993) developed a taste for the exotic offerings of ethnic cultural tourism experiences. Simultaneously, neoliberal pressures have seen Indigenous Australian tourism operators encouraged to enter the tourism market to cater to this lucrative tourist demand and thereby free governments of their social and developmental obligations for these dispossessed and disadvantaged communities and peoples. Using a critical lens, we interrogate the ethics of current Indigenous Australian tourism development and marketing practices and question the purported economic benefits offered to Indigenous Australians who attempt to engage in this opportunity. With years of instability experienced by those working at the operational levels, it is worth asking: whose interests are being served?
