Tropical North Queensland Australia's favourite school holiday desination

Domestic travel trends and record visitor numbers has Tropical North Queensland almost at capacity.


With the school holidays upon us this weekend, some accommodation providers are reporting they are booked out with some more popular properties being booked out 2 years in advance.

FNQ Apartments Owner Brenda Campbell says “in the past seven years I have been booking accommodation for tourists in my business, I have never seen accommodation booked out so far in advance.”

Domestic travel is growing faster than international travel in Australia as holidaying locally presents itself as a safer and more affordable alternative for families. This places Tropical North Queensland at the top of many peoples list as they escape the last of winters chill in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

A report produced by Tourism Research Australia for the 2015‐16 financial year, shows that 2,043,000 domestic tourists visited Tropical North Queensland, an increase of 14 per cent from the previous year. These visitors spent $2.279 billion, which increased by 24 per cent from the previous year.

Visitor nights also recorded growth, with domestic tourists staying 10,457,000 nights in Tropical North Queensland, an increase of 16 per cent from the previous year.

The Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch MP, said the National Visitor Survey is evidence that Tropical North Queensland is proving popular for those holidaying in Australia and that “This is great news for the local economy and local jobs.”

“Congratulations to Tourism Tropical North Queensland and associated tourism bodies who are successfully attracting people to our region, and also to the tour, hospitality and accommodation services who are making their stay an experience to remember,” said Mr Entsch.

Further, newly released data from Wotif indicates four of the top 10 regional holiday destinations in Australia are in Tropical North Queensland. Cairns and Cairns Northern Beaches were found to be the top regional school holiday destinations in Australia.

This is all good news for Cairns and the region as continued visitor growth sees cash and consequently investment being poured into the local economy. Recent sales of substantial hotel assets in Cairns are proof that people are taking notice of the growing confidence in the Cairns tourism market and importantly are splashing huge amounts of cash to secure a slice of this growth.

There is positive times ahead for the tourism sector in Tropical North Queensland, well beyond the September school holidays.