Royal couple's $36K-a-minute tourism exposure

Harry and Meghan's visit deliver boost for tourism.

GOLDEN COUPLE: Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex meet members of a local surfing community group, known as OneWave, who raise awareness for mental health and wellbeing, at Bondi Beach in Sydney yesterday. The golden couple will visit Fraser Island on Monday. Picture: DEAN LEWINS

IT'S Queensland tourism's very own Baby Bonus.

The whirlwind visit of Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan to Fraser Island on Monday is expected to generate an estimated $2.16 million an hour in tourism exposure for the Sunshine State.

The tour was already poised to deliver a multimillion-dollar tourism windfall, but news of the couple's impending arrival is set to generate the kind of exposure money can't buy in two of our biggest tourism markets.

While Royal visits Down Under traditionally spark healthy interest in the UK, Meghan's American background - and her pregnancy news, will ensure the visit attracts massive publicity both sides of the Atlantic, adding up to a golden opportunity to show off Fraser Island to two of the world's biggest English speaking countries. The Bundaberg visit of Prince Charles in April reached a media audience of more than 26 million people in exposure worth an estimated $3.5 million.

Industry insiders believe Harry and Meghan's Fraser Island foray should at least double that figure.

Given they are expected to spend just over three hours visiting the island's iconic attractions, it works out to be about $36,000-a-minute worth of exposure for the Queensland tourism industry. Australian visits by stars such as Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres have previously been credited with causing spikes in visitors.