Tapping into nerd tourism ‘lucrative’ for Queensland

When it comes to attracting visitors to southeast Queensland, we could do worse than target the geek market, say experts.

ATTRACTING more tourists is not necessarily rocket ­science, but it can be.

Southeast Queensland is carving out a lucrative niche for itself in events and attractions with a science and technology focus – or “nerd tourism”, as it’s being dubbed.

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The Queensland Museum Network pulled off a major coup in securing the exclusive rights to hold the World ­Science Festival in Brisbane from 2016 to 2021 – the first time the event has been staged outside New York.

It has become one of the state’s four biggest events, attracting more than 160,000 visitors.

This year, the festival was included in Curiocity, a three-week series of events that also featured the QODE innovation summit, attended by 325,000 people in total.

It also coincided with an Australian exclusive exhibition, NASA: A Human Adventure, at Queensland Museum.

Looking forward, a dedicated children’s museum would be a sure-fire hit, a director of the city-shaping specialists Urbis, Natalie Hoitz said.

Melina Graham, Chloe Ballard, Benji Caudery and Vanessa Griffiths are pushing to bring an international Pokemon Go event to Queensland. Picture: Tara Croser

“Children’s museums have been identified globally as one of the most significant and fast-growing types of tourism around. In the United States and parts of Europe, they are now seen as vibrant destinations for children and the young at heart,” she said.

“If we want to enrich and develop Queensland’s cultural tourism, children’s museums are an obvious next step.”

Brisbane Marketing tourism investment and industry development head Mark Olsen said the agency was in discussions with “a wide ­variety” of groups about children’s attractions featuring interactive technology.

Technology-oriented conferences and conventions are also a strong driver for tourism.

Now in its third year, the World of Drones congress is the biggest industry event of its type in the Asia-Pacific ­region and will attract 1000 delegates to the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in September.

Founder Catherine Ball is working on plans for an annual Queensland Tech Week as a southern hemisphere rival to the successful London Tech Week.

In western Queensland, the State Government is partnering with Murweh Shire Council to deliver a $1.5 million upgrade to the Charleville Cosmos Centre.

A concept image of a potential future children's museum in Brisbane. Picture: Urbis

The facility already has an Observatory and Planetarium Hub and the funding will be used to repurpose the existing Old Weather Bureau building into a new heritage “Cosmic Time Warp” attraction.

“Astro-tourism is a multimillion-dollar global industry,” Tourism Industry Development Minister Kate Jones said.

Last month, the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum at Winton was declared the country’s first – and the world’s 10th – Dark Sky Sanctuary, in a move that will attract amateur astronomers from around the globe.

The Age of Dinosaurs will also receive $5 million from the state’s growing Tourism Infrastructure Fund for a Gondwana Stars Observatory, as well as a March of the Titanosaurs exhibition.

Esports has been identified as a growth area, and a dedicated band of Pokemon fans are trying to lure a major international event here.

Safari Zone Brisbane Pokemon Go is in discussions with gaming giant Niantic, Tourism and Events Queensland and Brisbane Marketing in a bid to bring a Pokemon festival to Brisbane early next year.

Around the world, Pokemon Go festivals have become big money spinners, with an event in Chicago last week attracting 60,000 fans.