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Australia should prepare itself for an explosion in cashed-up elderly tourists looking to reclaim their youth with health and medical holidays, a tourism conference has been told.

Demographer Bernard Salt, from business advisory firm KPMG, told the Australian Tourism Export Council (ATEC) symposium there would be a soaring popularity in health-based tourism, from spa treatments to cosmetic surgery, as the baby boomers of the western world reached their 60s, 70s and 80s in the next decade and beyond.

And, he said, their wealth and quest for youth meant lucrative opportunities for Australia to wrestle a share from the current health destinations of Costa Rica and Thailand.

"This is a generation that's not going to age like preceding generations," Mr Salt said.

"They've got the means ... (and) it fits in with the recuperative qualities of a holiday.

"No one need know you had a facelift."

He said census figures across the western world showed those aged between 49 and 53 were hugely wealthy and would be looking to spend their money post retirement.

He said estimations were there would be six million medical tourists out of the US alone in 2010, compared to 760,000 just 30 years ago.

But the absence of a baby boom in Japan meant Australia had to instead concentrate on making travel safe for the "frail elderly boom" of Japanese travellers aged 80-plus in the next decade.

Mr Salt said Australian tourism businesses had in the past focused on families, young couples and luxury travellers - but they would begin to find business dwindling if they did not change their focus as the population aged.

ATEC managing director Matt Hingerty said the industry had in the past been largely ignorant of how an ageing population would affect tourism.

"We've been really focused on youth, Gen Y and what they're thinking but slowly but surely our key markets are ageing," he told AAP.

"We need to understand what that's going to mean."

He agreed Australia was well positioned to take advantage of the global trend in health tourism.

"They're travelling for health services - everything from spiritual guidance, spa treatments, weight loss, cosmetic issues, right through to major elective surgery," he said.

"And Australia's excellent health system and clean environment means that we have excellent potential to involve ourselves in that market."

He said health tourism would also help Australia's drive to lure more and more Chinese travellers who were driven to escape the hustle and pollution of their country for a purer environment.

AAP