With long-distance flights virtually the only way of reaching "Down Under", guilt over climate change is seen as a threat to the country's 75 billion dollar (62.7 billion US) tourism industry.

Negative press campaigns in major markets such as Britain had exaggerated the contribution of air travel to the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, Tourism Minister Fran Bailey said.

"I've seen ads that appear in the UK papers bagging long-haul aviation as a very large polluter. It's simply not true.

"Aviation contributes two percent of (global carbon dioxide) emissions, where a lot of ads in the UK suggest it is 98 percent," Bailey said.

Long-haul aviation caused less environmental impact than high intensity weekend trips by Europeans, she said.

"Tourism employs half a million Australians. My message today is that I don't want this to have an impact on the industry employing so many.

"The aviation industry should be right out there on the front foot correcting wrong perceptions in the public," Baily said as she launched a new National Tourism Campaign Action Plan.

She recommended streamlining airport traffic to reduce carbon emissions and welcomed cleaner technologies used in some new aircraft.

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