Since 2019, the Scenic Rim has dealt with severe drought, a bushfire disaster and COVID-19 restrictions.
Key points:
- The Scenic Rim in south-east Queensland is the only Australian inclusion in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2022
- Binna Burra's Lisa Groom says the international rating will raise the region's profile
- Lonely Planet's number one region for 2022 is the Westfjords in Iceland
Now it's bracing for a tourist tsunami after being listed as one of Lonely Planet's hottest destinations to visit in 2022.
The global travel authority has released its Best in Travel 2022 book and named the top 10 countries, cities and regions to visit next year.
Lonely Planet's Chris Zeiher said the Scenic Rim, in south-east Queensland, was the only Australian inclusion.
"It is this beautiful mix of nature, agriculture and adventure and an incredible community," he said.
"What's impressed me the most is meeting so many of the providers within the Scenic Rim and they are just genuine, genuine people.
"They will invite you in and make you feel like part of the family and that's a real kind of 'special sauce' you don't get in every destination."
Keen to welcome interstate tourists again
The Binna Burra Lodge, which was significantly damaged in the 2019 Black Summer bushfires, is just one business that's hoping to benefit from the international recognition.
Lodge operator Lisa Groom said the region was still bouncing back.
"It's taken a lot of hits," she said.
"I think it's this ingenuity and innovation that kind of came out of the region.
"It makes you realise that resilience is a word that we all have to get used to."
Chris Zeiher said the edition placed an emphasis on the best sustainable travel experiences, with the Scenic Rim placed eighth in the Top 10 regions.
"We ask all of our travel writers and travel community to nominate places to go to in the year to come," he said.
"That then gets short-listed and then goes to an expert judging panel and they've got a set of criteria that they have to score each destination on.
"They are things like topicality, so what's happening in that destination in that year to come, their commitment to sustainability and low impact tourism and is there a 'wow factor' about the destination."
Ms Groom said Binna Burra had been reliant on tourists from Queensland.
"We are excited about the borders opening, because the New South Wales and Victorian guests we used to have are, I'm sure, keen to get back into the rainforests," she said.
"It's a massive profile raise for the region in general.
"The fact that is a national rating is exciting too."
People want 'authentic' and 'real'
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said he was overjoyed to see the region achieve global recognition.
"Lonely Planet are really focused on places that are not just glitz and glamour, but that have a story to tell," he said.
"When your region's been formed for 23 million years out of the remains of a volcanic event ... and the valleys inside it hold World Heritage-listed rainforests and bespoke agricultural precincts ... it's no wonder we stand out from the crowd."
He anticipates a flood of tourists to the region when Queensland re-opens its border to other states from November 19.
"It puts the pressure on everyone to make sure we're giving us the strong vaccine coverage so that we can reliably open," he said.
Queensland Tourism Industry Council chief executive Daniel Gschwind said the Scenic Rim had "come into its own" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There's a bit of a silver lining from COVID that people looked closer to home to explore," he said.
"With a consumer trend towards authentic, real, personalised experiences some destinations in the Scenic Rim and experiences in the Scenic Green are just hitting the mark."
Lonely Planet's number one region for 2022 is the Westfjords in Iceland, followed by West Virginia, USA, and Xishuangbanna in China.