Tide starts to turn for Queensland tourism

"The first milestone we set for our "Nothing Beats Queensland" campaign was to see some recovery in the Easter holidays, and all areas reported an improvement in their figures, some even to the point where they were stronger than the year before," she said.

Ms Jarratt said the government's job now is to keep the momentum going.

"We really understand much better now the need to build resilient businesses which are weather-proofed for future shocks, because there's no doubt that this will not be the last challenge that the tourism industry will face," she said.

One of the state's leading tourism chiefs says while the government got a lot right, it still has more to do.

"My God, everyone thought Queensland had washed away," says Paul Donovan, the Gold Coast Airport boss and chairman of Gold Coast Tourism.

Mr Donovan praised the state government's recovery program and the allocation of an extra $80 million to Queensland Events to bring major attractions to Queensland.

But he says the job is far from over.

"The management of that area now is just terrific and they're really focused and engaged, but there's no question Tourism Queensland needs more money," he says.

"They haven't had any significant increase in their base funding for 10 or 12 years and there is definitely a need to make sure it is funded correctly."

Tourism Queensland chief Anthony Hayes says some areas have picked up more quickly than others.

"Southeast Queensland is starting to see good signs of recovery but the Whitsundays and Tropical North Queensland are still doing it pretty tough" after Cyclone Yasi in early February, he says.

He says the money the Queensland and federal governments pumped into tourism after the floods and Cyclone Yasi was critical.

Easter figures seemed to be quite strong, April and May were good, but June saw big dip.

Mr Hayes is hoping for strength from the domestic market, particularly into places like Cairns and the Whitsundays, as "real challenges" continue with some international markets.

Tourism Whitsundays chief executive Peter O'Reilly says the collateral damage in his area was massive.

"Cyclone Anthony, a few days before Cyclone Yasi, came directly over Bowen in the northern part of the Whitsunday region," he says.

"While Bowen didn't sustain a lot of infrastructure damage, Hayman Island was hit hard. They decided to close the place down, and it won't reopen for another few weeks.

"Hayman is a resort of international renown and a very important part of our region, so that's certainly been a blow to the industry, although they were well insured and that's allowed them to hang onto staff and get the work done.

"We're looking forward to a very fresh, new-looking Hayman Island reopening on the first of August."

Mr Hayes says one of the secrets to weather-proofing the industry is for Queensland to tell some new stories to attract visitors outside established peak periods.

"We need to put more focus on special events, the incentives and student markets, because none of those are weather or school holiday reliant," he said.

"If we're clever we will slot special events in at times of the year when we need people to come, outside the peak periods. That's a big part of the strategy for us from here on in."

AAP