The state government would like Brisbane to be home to a centre similar to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC.

Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said the state had a responsibility and opportunity to grow Indigenous tourism in Queensland.

"We have to own as a city, and as a state, the iconic structure which houses and showcases Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture," she told an American Chamber of Commerce in Australia breakfast in Brisbane on Friday.

"If we nail that, we're talking bigger than MONA [the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, Tasmania].

"If we own that, and that's in an iconic location on our [Brisbane] River, then you have to come to Queensland to see it and that's my dream ... which I wasn't going to talk about it because we haven't funded it yet."

Ms Jones was responding to a question of whether Brisbane needed an icon or a "big thing", like Sydney's Opera House, to lure tourists to Queensland's capital city.

She said industry wanted to back the idea.

"My biggest fear is that they might go back to Sydney or Melbourne and tell them that they want to do it but I think we've got the edge because we are the state with Torres Strait Islander culture and we're also the state with more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living here and working here than any other state," Ms Jones said.

"If we can pull that off and it's an amazing, iconic structure and showcases and tells the true history of what's happened in our country, then I think that will be a game-changer."

It is understood a site has not been chosen.

Brisbane Marketing chief operating officer Rob Nelson said tourists generally wanted to experience more of the country's Indigenous culture.

"It's something which we talk about often. Have we cracked it? No, we haven't. Is there opportunity? Yes, there is massively," he said.

"It's about working with the Indigenous groups to create that authentic experience."

The idea of a landmark Indigenous cultural centre for Brisbane has been floated for decades, including funding for a cultural consultancy in 2011 and a feasibility study and business case in more recent years.

On Friday, Ms Jones also announced investors would be invited to develop three new ecotourism trails in north Queensland and the Sunshine Coast.

Expressions of interest have opened to deliver the Thorsborne Trail in Townsville, Cooloola Great Walk on the Sunshine Coast, and the Whitsunday Island Trail.

"We want to partner with the private sector, councils and traditional owners to promote our world class national parks and develop new ecotourism," Ms Jones said.

"The latest tourism data shows that visitors are looking for unique experiences - today's announcement is about positioning Queensland to capitalise on this growing demand."

Ms Jones said the walks would be environmentally-responsible and there was also the potential for more ecowalks.

"We're currently also looking at options down at the Gold Coast as well as the Sunshine Coast," she said.

Meanwhile, Brisbane Airport Corporation chief executive Gert-Jan de Graaff said the city's new parallel runway would give the airport approximately the same capacity as Hong Kong and Singapore.

"Currently we are handling about 23.4 million passengers and we believe that in the next 15 years we will double in size, actually in 25 years we'll have 50 million passengers at Brisbane Airport," he said.

"That means that we need to develop the infrastructure, we need to develop not only infrastructure at the airport but also the city and further into Queensland."

Mr Nelson said China was still "number one" when it came to tourists but other markets were emerging, with interest from US tourists increasing.

"But look further afield to India and while it's not a number one target for us at the moment, it'd be foolish not to have a look at it, particularly partnering with the airport on securing the right routes that are going to deliver the capacity for us," he said.

"Taiwan's really interesting at the moment for us, New Zealand is still massive so it's how you spread your resources across that."