A delegation of outback Queensland tourism operators are on their way to North America this week on a mission to promote dinosaur-related tourism experiences.
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Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the group would study world-leading attractions and promote Queensland's pre-historic tourism experiences in the US - including dinosaur trails, fossil dig sites and natural history museums.
"Paleo-tourism has the potential to generate millions of dollars for outback Queensland in years to come - this is about making sure we make the most of this opportunity," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"Tourism supports 3700 outback jobs and pumps $355 million into the local economy but we know there is plenty of room for growth in the future.
"This mission is about growing outback Queensland's tourism industry to attract more visitors than ever before and create jobs for locals That's why I declared 2019 the Year of Outback Tourism."
The North West has several dinosaur related tourism businesses on the Dinosaur Trail including Winton's Age of Australian Dinosaurs, Richmond's Kronosaurus Korner and Hughenden's Flinders Discovery Centre.
Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said unique dinosaur-related experiences had great potential to grow the tourism industry in the outback.
"Queensland boasts a unique range of paleo-tourism experiences - including Australia's largest dinosaur and what's thought to be the world's only record of a dinosaur stampede with fossilised footprints of around 150 two-legged dinosaurs," Ms Jones said.
Eromanga Natural History Museum founder and director Robyn Mackenzie said the timing of the mission was perfect for her business which was in the final design stages of a future development.
"I am looking forward to gaining valuable learnings from being able to compare our remote dinosaur and natural history museum to other similar museums and travelling with like-minded operators," Ms Mackenzie said.
The mission is an initiative of Tourism and Events Queensland in partnership with the Outback Queensland Tourism Association and outback Queensland tourism operators.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
