It was good and bad news for arrivals to Cairns Airport in August as the redevelopment neared its completion.

On the domestic travel front, 142,770 passengers arrived in August, down from 152,326 in July, and also down on August 2009 figures of 146,790.

International visitors also decreased marginally from July's 32,039 passengers to 31, 581 in August. However, the good news is that this figure eclipsed 2009's August arrivals which saw 24,298 internationals come to Cairns.

The Aussie dollar continues to climb and is set to be on par with the US dollar, hitting 97.92 US cents on Wednesday night.

This continues to be a challenge for the tourism industry with domestic and international travellers looking elsewhere to get value for money.

Domestic travellers seem to present the best opportunity for tourism in Queensland, as only those international travellers who have a compelling reason to come to Australia will choose to come in the current climate.