Dr Ross K. Dowling

Dr Ross Dowling is Associate Professor of Tourism, and Coordinator of the Tourism Program in the School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Faculty of Business & Public Management, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. He is Treasurer of the Ecotourism Association of Australia (EAA) and is Vice Chairperson of The Forum Advocating Cultural and Ecotourism (FACET) in Western Australia. He is an international speaker, researcher and consultant on both ecotourism and wine tourism.

Dr Dowling has degrees in Geology, Geography and Environmental Science as well as diplomas in Educational Administration, Sport & Recreation, and Teaching. In 1993 he was awarded a PhD in Environmental Science from Murdoch University, Western Australia, for his ecotourism thesis An Environmentally Based Approach to Tourism Planning. His model has since been applied in Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia and the USA.

In Australia Dr Dowling has helped to prepare a number of state and regional ecotourism plans and strategies including the Queensland Ecotourism Plan. He also has a particular interest in developing ecotourism in Asia and has been involved in projects in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

He has convened a large number of national and international tourism conferences including the Australian Ecotourism Conferences in 1995 and 1996, and is the International Adviser for the World Ecotour conferences being held in Brazil in 2000 and 2002.

He also has a deep interest in the development of wine tourism and in 1998 he convened the First Australian Wine Tourism Conference and is the Program convenor of the Inaugural International Wine Tourism Conference & Expo, to be held at Leeuwin Estate, Margaret River, WA in March 2001. He is also the Convenor of the Australian Tourism Research Conference to be held in Perth in February 2002.

Dr Dowling has over twenty-five years experience working in the field of the environment and he has been a tour guide in wilderness areas and national parks in Australia and New Zealand. For his contributions to the environment he has been awarded a Mobil Environmental Prize and a New Zealand Conservation Foundation Citation.

Phone: (618) 9400 5891
Fax: (618) 9400 5840
Email: r.dowling@ecu.edu.au