Wil Kemp, David Kempton and Mike Lee celebrate a huge win for the Savannahlander, named the state’s Best Tourist Attraction of 2026. Photo: Supplied.
An iconic Far North Queensland outback rail experience has been crowned the state’s Best Tourist Attraction of 2026 at the Queensland Day ‘All the Best’ awards.
The Savannahlander was announced as the category winner on Wednesday (3 June) after a record 74,630 voters backed their favourite local businesses across 15 categories.
The quintessentially FNQ train journey managed to beat out the Australia Zoo and Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers when driver Wil Kemp and Cairns Kuranda Steam Train operations manager Mike Lee received the award at the Brisbane Storey Bridge Hotel.
“It’s been an overwhelming morning for Mike and me. We flew down last night, and now there are all the people you see on TV surrounding us here at the Storey Bridge,” Mr Kemp said.
“The last couple of years have been extremely hard with floods and fires and the closed sections of track. Just operating from season to season, not knowing whether or not we’re going to be around the next year, or even if I would have a job.
“We fought really hard to get the railway situation out there into the public to try and gather support, and I guess this is the culmination of that.”
Member for Cook David Kempton said he was ecstatic to stand beside the Savannahlander team as they celebrated the huge win.
“It’s been a fantastic morning celebrating this win for Savannahlander with Wil and Mike and the rest of the team cheering on back home,” he said.
“This proves how iconic and popular the Savannahlander is. It is a unique outback four-day rail experience that departs Cairns weekly, travels through the Wet Tropics area of the Kuranda range and stops into Mareeba train station, bringing tourists into the heart of my electorate, and continues out through the Savannah country to Forsayth.”
Premier David Crisafulli said that All the Best was Queenslanders doing what they did best.
“All the Best is exactly that – Queenslanders backing Queenslanders and getting behind the local spots and businesses that they love,” he said.
“A record-breaking number of votes shows we are building something special for this state, just how proud Queenslanders are of where we live, and how good our local businesses really are.
“Congratulations to every winner and to the thousands of Queenslanders who got behind them to take the crown in their category.”
Original Article published by Chisa Hasegawa on Region Tropical North Queensland.
