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Satellite image of Cyclone Tomas and Cyclone Ului - Source: Reuters -
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Tourism in the Whitsundays has taken a bit of a battering from Cyclone Ului but industry leaders say the recovery will be quick.
Tourism Whitsundays chief executive Peter O'Reilly says the physical damage appears to have been relatively minor in Airlie Beach, where he's based.
He said tourism operators had still taken a hit, with island resorts evacuated, tourists leaving and bookings cancelled.
But he was hopeful things will quickly return to normal, and said bustling Easter trade would be a boost.
"I think we've probably come out of it pretty well and I don't think the clean up will take long," he said.
"But there's certainly been an economic impact. We've had lots of people leaving, and a lot of bookings cancelled and that really does hurt the town."
He said Airlie Beach would be back to normal by next weekend, but it could be a few weeks until it was business as usual in the region.
"We're looking forward to Easter, which will be a bit of a shot in the arm for us."
Premier Anna Bligh said Ului was more bad news for a region whose tourism industry had already suffered a big blow from the global financial crisis.
"I expect that we will see the tourism operators in that region take some kind of hit from this because it will take some places weeks, at the very least, to fix broken windows and be fully operational again," she told reporters in Brisbane.
"So that's not going to be easy for an area that already, over the last 12 months, had one of its worst years because of the global financial crisis."
She said her government would talk to affected businesses to see what help could be offered.
