Tourism in north Queensland is recovering after successive cyclones devastated the region.
Tropical Storm Jasper struck the Far North in December, followed a month later by Cyclone Killilee, both bringing heavy rains, flooding and destructive winds.
The weather event caused devastating damage to homes and businesses, resulting in billions of dollars in damages.
Port Douglas remains a tourist mecca despite the constant annual cyclones that strike it. (Photo by Dave Hunt/AAP)
Sam Charlton, owner of Elandra Resort in Mission Beach, said he saw a big drop in bookings in December after Cyclone Jasper hit.
“December was a pretty tough month from a tourism perspective,” he said.
“The rain has really affected the areas north of Cairns. We’re south of Cairns so we didn’t get as much rain as Port Douglas.”
“But because reports of the cyclone affected everyone in north Queensland, there’s a widespread perception that everyone there is being affected by flooding.”
But bookings are up from out-of-state travelers heading north to escape the wet and cold winter temperatures.
“We’re definitely seeing an increase. People forget about cyclones but in north Queensland they do happen. It’s the most comfortable time of the year,” Mr Charlton said.
While bookings so far this year aren’t as high as those for 2023, they’re still steadily increasing compared to pre-pandemic visitor numbers.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO Mark Olsen said they were expecting a significant increase in tourism to the region between June and August.
“We’ve had a massive increase in bookings so our phones have been ringing off the hook for the last seven days,” he said.
“I would say in the last seven days, we’ve seen about a 10% increase in overnight stays for June, July and August.”
The majority of those bookings are from out-of-state travelers, he said.
The Queensland Government predicts that an additional 1.3 million tourists will visit the state by June 2025, spending more than $1.7 billion.
The company believes the increase is due to recent tourism campaigns.
The campaign was the largest ever to feature an actual game of “Keepy-Appy,” a balloon-keeping game featured on ABC’s hit children’s show “Bluey.”
“The Bluey campaign has certainly brought great attention to the region and I think it has inspired a lot of people across Australia to say, ‘come on, let’s get started’,” Mr Olsen said.
