The dust has settled, the headaches have subsided, and the schoolies have left Surfers Paradise once again.

Almost 16,000 teens took over the Gold Coast to celebrate the end of more than 12 years of schooling following the event's cancellation last year.

Police said the group drank less and showed more care for their mates than previous cohorts and labelled this year's crop "actually the best".

Local businesses also praised the teens for "helping [them] out" after a tough two years for Gold Coast tourism.

In a blow to their reputation, schoolies have conceded they were "pretty chill".

Best on record

In previous years, headlines of trashed hotel rooms and bad behaviour have cast a pall over the long-running rite of passage.

Chair of the Schoolies Advisory Board Mark Raeburn said he was pleased with the event and the 1,000-volunteer response, despite one minor sign of the times.

"The good news is the response has gone really well and credit to the schoolies," he said.

"The bad news is the mullet count grows year after year, and there's nothing we can do to stop it."

School-leaver Olivia Duncan said it was "pretty nice" to hear she was among the "best behaved" group "in history".

"I think in the past everyone kind of remembered schoolies as being a bit crazy," she said.

Acting Chief Superintendent Rhys Wildman said "number of factors contributed to the shift in behaviour.

"The school-leavers this year have actually been the best on record," he said.

"Definitely the education programs prior to schoolies were definitely having a positive impact on what we are seeing with this cohort coming through.

"I think COVID may have had some positive implications here … providing that group with a little bit more maturity in the way that they've had to deal with things.

Minimal impact

Youth Affairs Minister Meaghan Scanlon praised schools for helping "to make sure people are prepared, that they know what the risks are, but also know what the opportunities are".

"That work is a testament to what we have seen," she said.

Queensland Ambulance Service's Justin Payne said there were 60 fewer people through the Emergency Treatment Centre this year compared to 2019.

"Of the 400 people we saw, only 19 of those needed to go to hospital," he said.

"From a hospital avoidance strategy, the school-leavers response had a minimal impact.

"The response the paramedics had from the school-leavers was very, very positive. Everyone was quite polite and there was always a sober friend on every single instance we had in the tent." 

Toolies 'disappointing'

Over the week, 28 schoolies were arrested for public nuisance-type offences, down from 42 in 2019 and more than 60 in the years before.

Police arrested 88 toolies and recovered two screwdrivers and two knives from non-school leavers during "wanding" operations.

"It's a bit of a wake-up call for some of our older members of our population on the expectations of behaviour," he said.

Recent graduate Cameron said he did not see any "dramas" with schoolies.

"I reckon we were a good-behaved cohort," he said.

Brisbane-based Ryvan Tingee and Xander van Wyk said there were "too many toolies".

"They'd just get angry for no reason," Mr van Wyk said.

Christmas 'test run' welcomed

Meaghan Scanlon said the "best schoolies ever" provided businesses with a reprieve after a tough two years.

"This has been great for the local economy," she said.

"When you've got hundreds of thousands of young people coming into Surfers Paradise all spending money, no doubt buying kebabs at the end of the night, it really shows that it is a boom for the tourism sector here."

Supervisor at a Surfers Paradise beer and burgers business Porshia Porellie said '"hangover" breakfasts were "really needed" to help prop up business.

"Schoolies have been a really good week for us," she said.

"Especially after the two years of COVID we really needed it.

"The borders open up on the 17th that we're really excited for, so just getting this little test run before the Christmas holidays start, it was really nice for us and it's really nice to be in a busy environment again.

"It's one of our necessaries here every year. It's one of the biggest influxes of money into Surfers Paradise each year at the end of the year and it really does help us out." 

On behaviour, Acting Chief Superintendent Wildman said the "bar has been set very high" for incoming schoolies of 2022.