Tourism Australia says the youth travel market remains strong, but the number of international tourists overall is expected to drop by 4 per cent this year.

It has told a tourism industry conference in Adelaide that operators need flexibility to cope as markets change, with a growing focus on domestic travel.

Geoff Buckley, from Tourism Australia, says the economic downturn is having an impact, but there is no reason to panic.

"It's nowhere near the sort of drop that some of our competitor destinations are experiencing," he said.

Mr Buckley has flagged a changing strategy for selling the tourism message.

"We recognise it's harder and much more expensive now using TV as your only mechanism so we've shifted the balance. We're doing some quite startling things now using Facebook and Twitter and those sorts of mechanisms and with some real success," he said.

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