The unexpected drawcard to the Gympie region

One major drawcard enticed holidaymakers to the Gympie region last week.

POPULATION BOOST: Aerial footage of Rainbow Beach. Families enjoyed spending time at the beach. Picture: Philippe Coquerand

HOLIDAYMAKERS embraced the Cooloola Coast, Mary Valley and Gympie region during last week's school holidays.

Hundreds of families enjoyed time on the beach, spending money at local businesses and visiting the many tourist attractions.

Despite the wet weather last week, tourism is booming and continues to do so, with many New South Wales families enjoying the next week off.

Rainbow Beach Tourist Centre owners Maureen and Sam Mitchell said they were impressed to see a lot of people coming long distances.

"Heaps of people were here until the storm hit on Sunday afternoon,” Mr Mitchell said.

The Inskip Point sink hole attracted nationwide attention and some visitors were curious to see what the fuss was about.

Some believe the sinkhole two weeks ago may have helped draw in a crowd.

"Visitors will come to Rainbow Beach anyway, sinkholes happen a bit, but you've got people who are intrigued by it,” Mr Mitchell said.

Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will visit Fraser Island on their tour of Australia next week.

Mr Mitchell said he believes some people will travel through Rainbow Beach to see the royals at Fraser Island.

A spokeswoman for Kingfisher Bay Resort said they had a bumper month ahead of them.

"Our rooms at the resort were already at 90 per cent occupancy before the announcement of the royal visit to Fraser Island, thanks largely to the innovative marketing strategies and media coverage achieved by our team throughout the year,” the spokeswoman said.

"We expect that October will be a bumper month on the island and are working hard behind the scenes to leverage the interest from around the world and create future business opportunities for the region.”

Imbil Camping Retreat's new manager Brett Officer said the camping facilities were completely booked out.

"We've been busy the past couple of weeks,” he said.

"People love visiting Imbil because it's a beautiful country town.

"Campers went jet-skiing, fishing and were visiting the produce places at the Mary Valley.

"Businesses in town were very happy, we have great cafes, a great butcher and the comments we received were all positive.”

"We're getting great feedback from businesses, we always want them to come back.”

Queensland students went back to school on Monday.