MORE than 360,000 people are expected to watch the sunrise at Mooloolaba on Thursday morning, March 10.

The Today program will broadcast from Mooloolaba beach from 4.30am until 8am

An estimated 1000 people turned out for the program's broadcast from Moffat Beach six months ago and organisers hope to beat that number.

The program has been lured to the Coast by Visit Sunshine Coast in partnership with Tourism Events Queensland and the Sunshine Coast Council as a marketing strategy.

Visit Sunshine Coast chief executive Simon Ambrose said he could not discuss the cost for commercial reasons.

Mr Ambrose said the expense was worth it for the reach and the ability to "cut through" the myriad of other advertising messages bombarding people.

"It's a really great way to get 10-15 minutes of the Sunshine Coast that you might not be aware of out there," Mr Ambrose said.

Mooloolaba businesses have been encouraged to put on breakfast menu specials to draw visitors to the area tomorrow morning and Mooloolaba TAFE hospitality students will cook bacon and egg rolls at the beach for gold coin donations towards Moooloolaba State School.

Mooloolaba Business and Tourism president Peter Foran said local operators hoped the show would encourage more people to visit Mooloolaba.

"When we had the last cruise visit here, there were some girls who were shopping in and said, 'We'd never heard about Mooloolaba and didn't know how beautiful it was - we're going to come back and stay."

"This is much the same thing. It's a great opportunity to show how beautiful Mooloolaba is."

"We're very, very excited. For two-and-a-half hours, Mooloolaba is going to be the centre of attention."

The broadcast will start at 4.30am, an hour earlier than Queensland viewers will see it, to account for daylight saving interstate.