Internationally renowned naturalist Professor David Bellamy has held Disneyland up as a prime example of eco tourism at the 18th annual Global Eco Asia-Pacific Tourism Conference in Queensland. The self-described itinerant Pommy botanist told delegates to the conference in Noosa on Monday, the Disney brothers led the way back in the 50s "when the `blessing' of international package holidays appeared on the horizon".

Prof Bellamy said Walt and Roy Disney carved their fantasy land out of Florida swamps surrounded by run-down cattle ranches, and citrus orchards drenched with chemicals. "The lake in the middle was so polluted it had to be drained and detoxed before Tinkerbell, in the guise of Mother Nature, came to the rescue," he said.

"The result was the mother honey pot of mass tourism, creating thousands of worthwhile jobs across the full spectrum of the nascent hospitality industry, while attracting talent from around the world to put WOW! into the experience," he bellowed.

Prof Bellamy said Disneyland's landscape architects drew on the biodiversity of the world's flora to stabilise and beautify the park, and restored a great chunk of the everglades back into more natural biodiverse, and more sustainable order.

"It became a nature reserve for all our children's futures and a safe haven for many endangered plants and animals as it refilled with clean spring water.

"If only the bayous around New Orleans had been given the same loving care, perhaps the terrible floods of 2005 might not have wreaked such havoc."

Prof Bellamy said there are now 911 sites listed as World Heritage tourist destinations, all of which need the support of the eco holiday tourist business.

"The tide of commonsense is turning, especially in the world of eco tourism and farming.

"Eco tourism is surrounded by insurmountable opportunities and from the moment the first hotel gave their clients the choice of using their towels for a couple of days they have never looked back or stopped coming up with new ideas for eco."