Australia is missing out on a new breed of 'metro-spiritual' travelers, an international expert says.(Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)
US-based Hitesh Mehta told a Global Eco conference in Alice Springs there was a growing group of well-educated, healthy-eating, yoga-doing, Prius-driving, cashed-up travellers who were looking for authentic adventures.
Metro-spirituals were found all over the world, with most living in the US, Germany, France, England, Kenya and Australia, Mr Mehta said.
The accommodation expert was speaking to industry representatives on the international trends in eco-lodges.
And he warned Australia was lagging behind the rest of the world in the department.
He used case studies across the globe showing lodges built entirely with local and natural materials which blended into the beauty of their surroundings.
Mr Mehta said there were a lot of nature-based operators in Australia.
"But when it comes to eco-lodges the choice is pretty limited because a lot of the lodges in Australia have a very strong capitalistic component to it," he later told AAP.
He said metro-spirituals were well informed and would take or leave a destination based on their strong environmental and social values, and the lack of choice in Australia would cause them to look elsewhere.
"They are world travellers and they are people who, when they travel, are people who want to make a difference to the places they go to, to the local communities or to ... saving the environment," he said.
"They are educated, they are well-aware."
Mr Mehta said metro-spirituals also wanted to feel a connection with local indigenous people.
This was possible elsewhere, he said, but not in Australia due to a shortage of accommodation owned and operated by its indigenous people.
"There's a long way to go there," he said.
