Papua New Guinea (PNG) should be to Australia what Costa Rica and Belize are to the USA – a proximate and successful tourist destination that attracts sustainable numbers of tourists drawn to the extraordinary diversity of endemic wildlife, habitats and the diverse range of cultural groups. Belize and Costa Rica have embraced ecotourism to the extent that ecotourism is now a significant earner of foreign exchange as well as an important mechanism for conserving biodiversity and facilitating local and regional sustainable development (see Weaver 1999).