SURE, there may be the occasional toilet-related mishap by the side of the road, but backpackers are welcomed with open arms in Cairns, no matter where they sleep.

Sydney residents and business owners were reportedly up in arms this week over budget travellers - mainly from Europe - making themselves at home on footpaths and allegedly using gutters as toilets.

Many of the backpackers are forced to wait in Sydney until they can sell their vans, in order to pay for the next stage of their travel.

At the end of the east coast backpacking route, in Cairns, travellers can regularly be found camped along the Esplanade.

Dutch tourists Esmee Dehue, 25, and Anouk Keizer, 25, who drove in their Wicked camper van from Brisbane to Cairns, said for them, the camper van was the most affordable method of experiencing Queensland without splashing out to stay in a hostel.

"There's enough campsites around, but they are too expensive. It's about $25 just to use a shower, so it's not really worth it," Ms Dehue said.

She admitted some backpackers occasionally went to the toilet in places they shouldn't.

"Sometimes you have to, because there's nowhere else. But that's not us," she said.

Backpacking Queensland chairman and Cairns' Calypso Backpackers owner Brett Claxton said backpackers camping by the side of the road in Cairns was not an issue.

Mr Claxton said budget travellers were the lifeblood of Queensland's tourism industry.

"They do take the jobs that no one else wants to do and there's always someone contributing to our economy in some way, so we welcome them here in Cairns for sure," he said.

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