Professor Ross Dowling is Foundation Professor of Tourism, and Head of the Tourism Program, School of Marketing, Tourism & Leisure, Faculty of Business & Law, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia.  He is an Executive Board Member of the Indian Ocean Tourism Organization (IOTO) and a founder of Ecotourism Australia. In Western Australia he is a Council Member of the Royal Automobile Club, the Royal Agricultural Society and the National Trust.

He is an international speaker and consultant on tourism having or advice for the industry in a number of countries around the world. In recent years he has established a Tourism degree for Emirates Airlines, United Arab Emirates; convened an International Tourism and Hospitality Conference in Malaysia; lead an Australian team giving Tourism Industry Development Workshops for the Vietnam Government; and completed an extensive lecture tour for the Chinese Government, throughout China, Hong Kong and Macau. He is currently working as an Advisor for the Minister of Tourism in Oman.

Professor Dowling is a prolific author and researcher with over 200 tourism publications. In recent years he has co-authored or co-edited six books on tourism. They are Ecotourism, Tourism in Destination Communities, Natural Area Tourism, Ecotourism Policy and Planning, Wildlife Tourism, Geotourism and Cruise Ship Tourism. Two have been translated into Chinese and a third also published in India.

Professor Dowling has degrees in Geology, Geography and Environmental Science as well as diplomas in Educational Administration, Sport & Recreation, and Teaching. He has worked in ecotourism for over thirty years and has been a tour guide in natural areas in many parts of the world including Asia, the Pacific and the Antarctic. For his contributions to the environment he has been awarded a New Zealand Conservation Foundation Citation and a Mobil Environmental Award.