The tourism hotspots of Cairns, Townsville and the Whitsundays, which are desperate for the return of interstate visitors, are dragging the state’s vaccination rate down as Queensland heads towards the December 17 reopening to NSW and Victoria.

As Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and her ministers, as well as Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young, continued their vaccination tour of Queensland to encourage locals to get the jab, tourism industry bodies are worried that interstate visitors will be turned off from visiting towns that have low vaccination rates.