Reports that some businesses in Port Douglas hiked up their prices over the eclipse period have been labelled "short-sighted" by Port Douglas Chamber of Commerce president Phoebe Kitto.

While most businesses saw the once-in-a-lifetime event as an opportunity to showcase the region in the hope of enticing visitors to return in years to come, it is believed a minority sought to take advantage of a spike in visitation.

"I can understand why businesses put their prices up when they have to pass on higher costs, for example businesses put up prices on public holidays because they have to cover wages," Ms Kitto said.

"If there were additional expenses they had to incur over the eclipse, maybe if they had a stall and had to pay some fees, I can understand that.

"But if there's no additional cost and they're putting them (their prices) up, I can't see the good business sense with regards to building a relationship with the community...I would see it as a short-sighted business practice."

Ms Kitto said the practice of raising prices in busy periods only adds to the challenges Port Douglas has when competing with overseas destinations for the tourist dollar.

"One of the perceptions that Port Douglas has a problem with is that it's an expensive destination compared to overseas with the high Australian dollar. We're competing with a lot of destinations.

"I think price-hiking over busy periods isn't go to assist in us getting rid of that perception.

"This is potentially damaging. People don't want to feel like they're getting ripped off."

Some accommodation providers are believed to have increased their room rates well above standard high-season rates some months before the eclipse, but were forced to reduce their prices when beds were not being filled.

Ms Kitto said as far as she knew the Chamber had not communicated with its members to advise against price hikes in the lead up to the eclipse.

"That would be something that we would probably direct more toward TPDD (Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree).

"It's like airline prices, you put your highest rate out there and then if you don't secure the booking you might have to drop it. It's a bit of a risk to the business and a risk for the consumer as well as to whether they take the rates when they can.

"I don't think people should be going above rack rates, unless there's other inclusions they're able to package into it. It's not going to be seen as good value for money," she said.