By Jiang yaping

    CAIRNS, Australia, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- This year's Pacific Islands Forum will be held on Wednesday in Cairns, a northeastern coastal city of Queensland, Australia, according to local media on Tuesday.

    Cairns is located about 1,700 km from Brisbane, capital of Queensland. It is a popular travel destination for foreign tourists because of its tropical climate and proximity to many attractions.

    The city has a population of 150,000. Tourism is the largest income producer for the region, followed by the sugar industry. According to Tourism Australia, the Cairns region is the fourth-most popular destination for international tourists in Australia after Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

    Cairns is a truly tropical city, a modern, sophisticated destination that is an ideal base to explore the wider region with front door access to World Heritage listed Reef and Rainforest, islands, and Outback.

    Nowhere else on earth do two World Heritage listed sites sit side by side, The Great Barrier Reef and Australia's Tropical Rainforests. These two areas are renowned for their scientific value and beauty and this region brings them to life better than anywhere else.

    Tourists will never be bored in Cairns. Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef, white water rafting down a raging river, sailing to tropical islands, browsing for crafts at country town markets, skydiving from 14,000 feet, fishing for barramundi, enjoying tropical Daintree Rainforest Tours, etc.

    The Cairns Esplanade is the city's favorite spot to immerse in the tropical lifestyle with a 4,000 square meter swimming lagoon taking center stage and provides an ambient temperature for year round swimming.

    A local travel agent told reporters there is nowhere else that has better experience of the natural wonders of the world's largest marine park than in the Cairns and Great Barrier Reef Region.

    However, the financial crisis has hit this tourist city hard. Cairns' hotel market emerged as one of the worst performers of the country last year, with occupancy rates diving 5.7 percentage points to 61.9 per cent, after flights there from Japan were slashed. The number of people on tours from Cairns out to the Great Barrier Reef has also been slashed, according to the tourism officials in Cairns.

    The city's tourism industry was struck again when swine flu started keeping Asian visitors away, and it is still struggling to fill Cairns' 13,000 hotel rooms.

    "We hope the 40th Pacific Islands Forum will help boom the local tourism a bit as delegates and journalists are flocking to this city these days," said a staff of the Rydges Plaza hotel in downtown Cairns with a smile.