Bistro 3 ended its 11-year history in Port Douglas on Sunday night, with owners telling staff the restaurant could not shoulder financial pressures any longer.

Melbourne-based director Henry Preston told The Newsport there were a number of reasons for the decision, including the inability to negotiate rental rates with their landlord.

"Our landlord rang us today and said 'you guys might have been right, the rental should be reduced' but it was too bloody late," Mr Preston said.

"The landlord has, over the last four years, been unsympathetic to our continued requests to reduce the rent."

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Mr Preston said a changing demographic of visitors to Port Douglas was also partly to blame for the restaurant's decline.

"Their willingness to spend on dining out at the middle level (has reduced)."

Tax issues, body corporate fees, and staff penalty rates were also contributing factors. Bistro 3 employed up to 25 employees during the busier months of the year.

Mr Preston said efforts to market Port Douglas in the southern states are not working.

"Port in some fashion needs to reinvent itself. The visibility of Port Douglas down south is virtually nil.

"I flew up yesterday (Sunday) on a Qantas jet which was obviously also used for international travel.

"The 'Welcome to Cairns' doco, the video they play in the last ten minutes before you land, mentions Cairns, Mission Beach, Palm Cove, the Daintree Rainforest, and not one mention of Port Douglas."