There are calls to boost the number of tourists travelling Down Under, particularly from the cashed-up Chinese market.

100 million Chinese people venture overseas every year but only 1.3 million come to Australia.

Sydney Airport’s Chief Executive Geoff Culbert says we should be targeting Chinese tourists specifically to boost our economy.

CEO of the Transport and Tourism Forum Margy Osmond says there are major benefits to attracting more tourists but we need to adopt a “strategic approach”.

“If it’s a great place to live, it’ll be a terrific place to visit,” she tells Deborah Knight.

“We have to get the infrastructure right for the people that actually live here.

“That means public transport and the right kind of access. It means national parks with terrific facilities.”

She says whatever we do in the tourism space “has to appeal to locals”.

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After hearing the story, ultra-marathon runner and former politician Pat Farmer called in.

He says when it comes to improving facilities for tourists, our public toilets need serious attention.

“It’s nice to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on all sorts of different transport facilities around the place, but they keep forgetting the basics,” he tells Deborah.

“Even Centennial Park in Sydney… I went to the public toilets and they’re absolutely disgusting.

“I thought to myself, ‘This is the first thing that tourists see when they come here’.”

Click PLAY below to hear from Pat Farmer