More than $295 million in tourism infrastructure investment is underway across Tropical North Queensland, alongside record international visitor spending and a new long term destination management plan.
Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s 2025–26 Annual Report shows international visitor spending reached a record $1.3 billion in the year to March 2026, up 27.6% on the previous year.
John O’Sullivan, Tourism Tropical North Queensland Chair, said additional marketing investment had played a significant role in the region’s recovery and growth.
“The return on investment in both advertising value and TTNQ generated visitor spend reached $34 of visitor expenditure for every dollar invested by our partners across industry and Government,” Mr O’Sullivan said.
Over the past four years, TTNQ secured an additional $18 million in Federal funding for international tourism recovery. Campaign activity attributed to that funding generated $267.5 million in visitor spending and supported an estimated 1,450 additional jobs.
Major tourism projects currently underway include the Hilton Palm Cove Cairns Resort & Spa, the $60 million Skyhaven accommodation development at Cairns Airport and an $85 million upgrade of Skyrail Rainforest Cableway.
Other investments include the Morris Group’s $40 million redevelopment of Double Island, the $15.5 million expansion of Smithfield Mountain Bike Park and the $59 million Wangetti Trail.
Mark Olsen, Tourism Tropical North Queensland CEO, said the level of investment reflected confidence in the region’s visitor economy and its future growth.
The organisation has also approved the TNQ 2045 Destination Management Plan, developed following consultation with more than 230 stakeholders across 32 regional workshops.
The plan sets a stretch target of $10 billion in visitor expenditure by 2045, compared with a forecast of $8.6 billion, with priorities including ecotourism, events, connectivity, visitor experiences, destination branding and industry development.
“Our goal is to reach our stretch target of $10 billion by driving growth in visitor spend and length of stay to surpass our 2045 forecast of $8.6 billion,” Mr Olsen said.
The strategy also sets an ambition for Tropical North Queensland to become Australia’s leading ecotourism region by 2045, while supporting adventure and regenerative tourism, First Nations connections and local communities.
