Abstract: An earlier version of this paper was originally prepared for the Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) Tourism Working Group in 1991. It is divided into three parts: a review of research on the impacts of tourism on Aboriginal communities; an outline of the characteristics of an ecologically sustainable tourism industry in the context of the industry's interface with Aboriginal communities; and a discussion of policy alternatives to achieve an ecologically sustainable tourism industry for Aboriginal communities.The methodology for the paper is based on a search of the literature, with special reference to the authors' own works on the impacts of tourism on Aboriginal communities in remote Australia (in Altman's case) and in rural and urban areas in south-east Australia (in Finlayson's case). The Working Group's Final Report on Tourism published in November 1991 used this research in its discussion of the impact of tourism on indigenous Australian communities. Interest in Aboriginal involvement in tourism has increased since the publication of that report, with the launch in June 1992 of a National Tourism Strategy which made specific reference to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It is for this reason that a revised version of the original consultancy report is now being published.