"Backstreet Boys are very strongly rumored to be touring in November," concert promoter Michael Chugg said yesterday.
Several local promoters have shown interest in touring the boy band.
An official announcement, expected soon, spells the end of a long wait for BSB Australian fans, snubbed on previous world tours.
But the mediocre response to their latest album, Black And Blue, hints at the band's need to regain its popularity.
It also fulfils a long-held desire for the band to perform here.
BSB member Nick Carter said two years ago: "We'd love to play in Australia. We've heard it's by the sea."
Late yesterday, Zomba Records promotions manager Sally Power said the BSB tour was 80 per cent confirmed for dates in November.
"That is all anybody knows at this stage," Ms Power said.
The band's management company, The Firm, of Los Angeles, says tour talks are in progress with local promoters.
If BSB plays November dates, it will head a superstar series of summer concerts that includes Robbie Williams, U2, Janet Jackson and planned world tour stopovers by Paul McCartney and Neil Diamond.
The Backstreet Boys, formed in Orlando by pop Svengali Lou Pearlman, are the elder statesmen of the 1990s wave of boy bands.
Their global hits include As Long As You Love Me, I Want It That Way and Larger Than Life.
They preceded N'Sync, another boy band crafted by Pearlman, and countless imitators.
Chugg said the Japanese tour calendar may have a slight influence on acts adding Australia to their schedule.
Influential rocker Neil Young, who plays at a rock festival in Japan in July, may surface here the following month.
United States band Tool, playing the same festival, is also considering Australian dates.