More than 9000 apply for 'best job in the world'

More than 9000 people from 162 countries have joined the race to score a $150,000 tropical island dream job on Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

Tourism Queensland's Best Job in the World promotion gained worldwide attention when it launched earlier this month, offering a six-month gig in which the successful applicant will live in a luxury Hamilton Island villa, explore the reef, its islands and wildlife, swim, snorkel and blog about it.

Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said the the campaign was arguably one of the most successful tourism campaigns ever, attracting more than 2.3 million people to its website.

"We have been absolutely thrilled by the response which has seen people from Paris to Mongolia and Kazakhstan to Chile logging onto the website," she said.

"They have been talking about it everywhere from online blog sites to local pubs, from work places to around the dinner table at night it has captivated the world."

Applicants' 60-second video clips uploaded to the competition's website show eager job hunters from Mongolia, Romania, Turkey, Brazil, Canada and the Vatican bragging, begging and singing for the job.

Video applications can be submitted until February 22 and the island caretaker will be named on May 6.

Video submissions can be viewed at www.islandreefjob.com

AAP