The tourist mecca is at the epicentre of a system that is wrestling with airport staff shortages, a shutdown of large parts of southeast Queensland’s rail network and the usual Easter holiday congestion on the state’s major highways and arterial roads.

The surge in travel is expected from midday, with new figures showing the Gold Coast is top of the hit list of preferred destinations this Easter.

But that has coincided with massive delays and disruptions at Australia’s major airports as they try to cope with their busiest day in two years, with thousands of people wanting to travel over the Easter break and not enough staff to handle the overload.

Passengers are being asked to arrive at least two hours early for domestic flights, with Brisbane Airport expected 52,000 people at its domestic terminal and Sydney Airport saying about 82,000 passengers will need to get through under pressure security gates and check-in counters.

And southeast Queenslanders sticking closer to home but wanting to catch a train over the break will not be spared disruptions, with major track closures scheduled over Easter to allow for vital work on the Cross River Rail project.

From Friday until Monday, all lines into Brisbane city will be affected, with closures affecting the Beenleigh, Gold Coast, Shorncliffe, Ferny Grove, Cleveland and Inner North lines. The Gold Coast and Beenleigh liens will be out of action for 10 days from Friday.

Buses will replace trains on these lines and Translink is urging people to check online and plan their journey in advance.

The Tourism and Transport study found 52 per cent of people surveyed were taking off on holidays this Easter, putting the Gold Coast at number one on the destination list, with the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane also attracting swarms of visitors.

Gold Coast tourism authorities are predicting new records will be set this easter as the industry recovers to more than 100 per cent of pre-Covid holiday levels.

In a new trend Melbourne is expected to outstrip Sydney as the source for most visitors to the Gold Coast. Sydney to the Gold Coast has long been one of the nation’s busiest air routes, but Melbourne-Gold Coast is likely to take the mantle as Australia’s busiest this weekend.

The domestic travel rush comes as Jetstar has also this week resumed its service between Auckland and the Gold Coast.

Tourism and Transport CEO Margy Osmond said the Gold Coast was reaping the benefits of people finally being free to travel for leisure.

“It is open slather and like homing pigeons they’re heading for the Gold Coast because it is the full package,” Osmond said.

“Not only is it embedded in the average Aussie that that’s the place to go when you get to escape lockdown, but there’s been some impressive promotion from the Gold Coast and Queensland destination agencies to make sure it’s like the earworm, it’s in your head.”

Sydney Airport, ground zero for disruptions that are affecting all major airports, has been buckling under the strain all week due to staff shortages and absences because of Covid-19 infections, resulting in enormous check-in queues.

“I know it’s a difficult message to hear but Thursday is going to be another tough day for travellers, and I want to apologise in advance to anyone who is inconvenienced,” Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said.

Other airports are expected to be under increasing strain over the school holiday period with back-to-back long weekends for Easter and Anzac Day.

Nearly a million travellers are expected to pass through Sydney Airport, which is Australia’s biggest domestic and international travel hub.

Osmond said it was not only air travel that was expected to hit capacity.

Because of real and anticipated domestic travel delays, more people were resorting to packing the family in the car and driving to their holiday destination, which meant more holiday traffic on the roads, she said.

“It is part of the process of getting back to normal, the same with traffic on the road,” Osmond told Nine’s Today Show.

“You are looking at literally two years of people not able to go anywhere. What we are seeing now is that massive pent-up demand.”

Destination Gold Coast chief of stakeholder and strategy, Rachel Hancock, said the Easter visitor surge had been a long time coming for tourism operators who had “hung in there” during the pandemic.

“They deserve this, they deserve a really good Easter,” she said.

Melbourne Airport is forecast to see around 380,000 people go through over the next five days.

Adelaide Airport expects 25,000 travellers to enter its recently expanded terminal on Thursday and a similar number on Friday.

Cross River Rail boss Graeme Newton said the works were vital to integrate Cross River Rail into the wider network, and would include continuous work over the entire 10-day period to lower more than 250 metres of track south of Dutton Park station.

“We appreciate some people will be inconvenienced and we apologise in advance, but the scheduled closure means crews can undertake major works safely and efficiently in the rail corridor,” he said.