While many celebrated a welcome public holiday on Monday thanks to a change in Queens' Birthday dates, it is yet to be known just what impact the change will have on Queensland's tourism towns.
 
Traditionally the Queens' Birthday public holiday weekend in June signified a spike in domestic travel with people flocking to Port Douglas accommodation from Cairns and the Tablelands.

But some in the industry believe the new long weekend, which coincided with AFL and NRL Grand Finals, will not produce the same economic benefit for Port Douglas businesses.
 
Sam Cullen, Managing Director of the customer information site tourismportdouglas.com.au said on Friday that people would not be looking to hit the road for the new long weekend.

"The population will stay at home this weekend to watch the nation's two biggest football finals.
 
"This (the change of Queens' Birthday date) is a surprising move by a government who has promised to increase support for tourism. It brings into question the due diligence the government would have performed in making the decision," Mr Cullen said.
 
But Tourism Port Douglas and Daintree executive officer Doug Ryan said it was still too early to tell what impact the change will have on the local economy.
 
"It's difficult to judge when we're in the middle of the peak season and the effect it's going to have.
 
"It's disappointing that we're probably missing out on another day...it was just before the start of the season.
 
"But it's hard to know until we see what happens next year during that June period," Mr Ryan said.

He added that Reef trips remained popular over the weekend despite the airing of football Grand Finals.