State Development Minister Cameron Dick said the Port of Brisbane facility would be Queensland's first mega cruise ship terminal, which could attract the world's largest ships, at 270 metres or longer.

It would accommodate larger ships that were unable to dock at Portside at Hamilton.

"That will bring jobs, dollars and tourists into Brisbane and into Queensland," Mr Dick said.

"It will deliver $5 billion in economic value to Queensland over the next 15 years, create 240 construction jobs over the two-year construction period to 2020 and then 49 ongoing operational jobs for at least 20 years.

"This is an important project, [I'm] delighted for the government to help facilitate this by providing the lease of the land to the port so they can get on with the project."

Bookings have opened for the first cruise season in 2020, with 180 bookings for ships in the first year from companies including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian.

Port of Brisbane chief executive Roy Cummins said the terminal would put Brisbane at the heart of the cruising industry in Australia.

"Where other locations are struggling to handle larger ships or to have capacity for those passengers, and I particularly refer to Melbourne and Sydney in that regard, we are actually forging ahead," he said.

"We will have a state-of-the-art facility that can handle the largest vessels."

Mr Cummins said that meant larger vessels would make Brisbane their home port, which would have flow-on effects for other Queensland ports.

He said the cruise terminal would "cut a very elegant and sophisticated edition to the north side of the river".

"Very soon, in a couple of years' time, we will welcome the largest ocean-going cruise liners close to the heart of Brisbane," he said.

The Queensland government approved the project in October 2017, which was predicted to double the number of cruise ships in Brisbane.

The project was due to open in mid-2020.