Queensland Tourism Minister Peter Lawlor on Tuesday launched the "Sunshine Exchange" campaign, challenging Australian families to compete in an online game for a free holiday to China -- and vice versa.

Any family who registers after playing the game will be in the running for a free holiday as Queensland Ambassadors for the Shanghai World Expo in August.

Gamers take control of one of two mascots -- either PoPo the panda or KoKo the koala -- before button-bashing their mouse pad to make them fly through a range of Brisbane scenes, collecting tokens along the way.

"The Chinese love technology and are highly competitive so an online game such as this gives them a fun glimpse of Queensland that will hopefully spark the desire for them to visit," Lawlor said.

The winning Chinese family will receive five days in Queensland, while the winning Brisbane family will get to visit the Australian Pavilion in Shanghai, meet Chinese locals and experience the culture.

For those who like a challenge, at the end of the competition one winner will be randomly drawn from the top 50 on the competition leaderboard to receive a 1,000 Australian dollars (878 U.S. dollars) holiday voucher to be used for travel anywhere in Queensland.