Brisbane hailed a ‘dazzling’ destination for 2024

Brisbane has shifted from “uneventful” to “dazzling” to become one of the world’s top destinations to visit in 2024, according to the international travel guide Frommer’s.

In the most recent edition, Frommer’s Travel Guide says Brisbane is no longer a backwater “divided inconveniently by water”.

The Emporium Hotel overlooking Brisbane’s CBD is just one accommodation option attracting visitors to Brisbane.Credit: Adam Ferguson

“Brisbane’s reputation as a generic Aussie backwater is over. It belongs to the world now,” travel writer Jeanne Cooper says in the guide.

The city has conquered the river that divided it into north and south, she writes.

“Wrapped around the winding Brisbane River in Queensland, Australia’s third-largest city (with 2.5 million residents) has, until recently, been regarded as an uneventful town divided inconveniently by water.

“But suddenly Brisbane has learned how to conquer that natural obstacle and convert the river into a world-class asset, devising new ways to go over, under, and around the waterway – and show it off at new entertainment districts with dazzling views.”

“Brisbane’s reputation as a generic Aussie backwater is over. It belongs to the world now.”

Jeanne Cooper, Frommer’s

Frommer’s is an international tourism business that began a series of travel guides in 1957 in the United States. It now has 350 travel guides, with 150 independent writers, and a television show.

Cooper highlights Brisbane’s improved links in and around the Brisbane River.

“The Cross River Rail project, due to finish in 2026 – much to the delight of Queenslanders – will add train tunnels under the water, uniting the city’s cleft transit options by the time Brisbane hosts the 2032 Summer Olympic Games,” she writes.

The high-rise Queen’s Wharf casino, hotel and dining precinct, set to open in April 2024, includes a pedestrian bridge to South Bank, “the city’s vibrant and expanding cultural centre”.

Frommer’s says changes around the Brisbane River have turned the city into a “dazzling” tourism destination.Credit: Tony Moore

“Introduced in late 2020, free KittyCat ferries (smaller and more fun than the commuter CityCats) zip to popular stops such as Howard Smith Wharves, a 2019 redevelopment featuring a sustainable art hotel known as Crystalbrook Vincent, the sprawling Felons brewpub, and bustling restaurants under the landmark Story Bridge, which also has its own adventure climbing experience,” she writes.

Frommer’s lists Brisbane with Seville, Panama City, Kentucky, Dresden, Guanajuato in Mexico, and Prince Edward Island in Canada as places to visit in 2024. No other Australian cities are included.

In the March edition of Time magazine, under the headline “Sports and Sun”, journalist Brad Japhe describes Brisbane as among “the 50 most extraordinary destinations to explore in 2023”.

“Beyond the central business district, the James Street precinct is a welcome testament to how urban development can champion local businesses and artisans rather than supplanting them,” Japhe writes in the magazine, which has a worldwide circulation.

In July, Swiss-based multinational public relations firm BCW dubbed Brisbane Australia’s highest-ranked sports capital (15th), over Melbourne and Sydney, largely because it will host the 2032 Olympics.

Then in September, hotel and travel industry experts named Brisbane’s brutalist-inspired The Calile among the top 50 hotels in the world.

Tourism employs 206,000 people and generates more than $22 billion in annual revenue, says Tourism and Events Queensland.

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said on Wednesday Frommer’s recognition showed Brisbane had “unstoppable momentum”.

“Our river city is on an incredible trajectory, and this is just further recognition that Brisbane just keeps getting better,” he said.

“Brisbane’s suburbs are great places to live, and our city’s incredible climate and world-class destinations, like South Bank and Howard Smith Wharves, are capturing hearts across the world.”

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