Famous as a tourist destination, Byron Bay attracts more than two million visitors a year.

But with a permanent population of just 10,000, the town's mayor is warning that the local tourism industry must learn to say 'no' or risk a backlash from residents of the northern New South Wales community..

Councillor Simon Richardson told the Beyond The Byron Boom tourism symposium on Friday that the town could not just sit back and do nothing.

"Perpetual growth in a finite community like Byron, eventually something's going to give," he said.

"This community is not going to sit by and watch it's housing stock disappear, its amenities disappear and its cultural and community integrity disappear.

"We are a community, we are more than beaches and lighthouses and cafes.

"That's the challenge for this industry.

"Don't just keep creating destination marketing campaigns, don't just keep making slick videos saying how wonderful we are.

"It's not a matter of just accepting and being grateful for every extra visitor.

"Let's look at the visitors we've got perhaps staying a bit longer or spending a bit more, rather than just chasing the extra growth."

That stance is at odds with the NSW Government's goal of doubling overnight visitor expenditure by 2020.

A typical beach scene at the ever-popular Byron Bay in northern New South Wales. ( ABC News: Bruce MacKenzie )

Senior staff from Destination NSW addressed the symposium, but focussed on funding opportunities and marketing strategies.

The department's general manager for regional New South Wales, Mr Stephen Mahonia, declined the ABC's request for an interview.

Staff at the department's head office in Sydney directed inquiries to the office of Tourism Minister Adam Marshall, who has been contacted for a comment.

Local Greens MP Tamara Smith is unimpressed.

"It is disturbing when we've got people coming up from the Big Smoke talking about increasing our tourist numbers exponentially," she said.

"We need more of a share of the money from government, or we need something like a bed tax."

But as recently as last month Premier Gladys Berejiklian flatly rejected the bed-tax proposal.

The symposium also heard from a former mayor of Queenstown in New Zealand, which is facing similar problems.

Vanessa van Uden said when a bed tax was blocked there, the local council introduced a radical rating structure for water and sewerage charges to help pay for the infrastructure costs associated with high visitor numbers.

"The fixed charge is $612 per annum for a residential property," she said.

"A hotel is rated at $612 for the first toilet, and then $306 for every toilet thereafter.

"So you can imagine in some of hotels, our biggest one is paying more than $150,000 a year in rates."

Ms van Uden said the United States resort town of Aspen provided a cautionary tale of what can happen when property prices skyrocket but local wages remain low.

She said workers in the town were often bussed to work, spending up to four hours a day travelling.

"The millionaires are being chased out by the billionaires," she said.

Government fund offers money for infrastructure

A spokesperson for Tourism and Major Events Minister Adam Marshall said local infrastructure and amenity issues relating to the impacts of tourism remained chiefly the responsibility of local government.

"The region's Destination Network, Destination North Coast, represents the region's tourism industry at the local level," the spokesperson said.

"The Destination Network is responsible for destination management planning for the entire north coast region, and will consider the wide range of issues for tourism across all destinations, including Byron Bay, in the development of its Destination Management Plan.

"The NSW Government has created a new $1.3 billion regional growth fund to deliver infrastructure projects to help regional economies expand and to improve the amenity of people living in regional NSW.

"Byron Shire Council is eligible to apply for funding to support local projects and initiatives to address infrastructure pressures and other impacts."