Advocates of interdisciplinary histories such as marketing and tourism claim legitimacy and respectability through application of scientific methodology.  For tourism historians (Towner 1995) history is 'the study of the past as revealed by the present evidence'.  Because of the international context of tourism and its economic, social and cultural benefits, both macro and micro historical approaches can combine to provide a framework for an historical analysis of inbound tourism to Australia stimulated by various marketing strategies used by tourist organisations.  Champions of contextual history claim that historical events are best presented as a macro approach whilst detailed evidence gleaned from archival sources, images and tourism ephemera is at the core of a more micro approach.

A synthesis of methodologies is therefore proposed for scoping the role of tourism marketing organisations in Australia during the 20th century.  It is contended that tourism marketing history is best presented in a framework of demand and supply or push and pull factors as used by tourism academics to explain the nature of tourism.  In the context of Australia's tourist development, tourism marketing at state and national levels was a deliberate step by governments to harness the benefits of this worldwide phenomenon.