Preliminary discussions have been held to upgrade the museum's mine tour, expand its Chinese Village, erect a new entrance precinct and build a physical link, possibly a bridge, to the Gold Museum - all possibly in the next five to six years.

And construction of a conference centre and accommodation units on Main Rd has also been mooted.

Sovereign Hill chief executive officer Jeremy Johnson said the future of the park was always at the forefront of staff and board members' minds.

He said they were constantly working to re-energise the park.

"Museums are never static, because they die."

"We're looking at establishing a link between Sovereign Hill and the Gold Museum and a new entrance precinct," he said.

The future vision for the museum was discussed by the architect behind the original design Ewan Jones at Sovereign Hill's annual president's dinner on Friday night.

"Ewan's thoughts were the current entrance had outlived its usefulness, and it has."

Mr Johnson said the project would only come to fruition if external funds could be sourced.

"All of this has a price tag," he said.

"It's probably in the order of about $7 million," he said.

"We need to do market feasibility studies and would seek a private sector partner."

Federal Government funds would also be sought.

Mr Johnson said the expansion of the Chinese Village and the upgrade of the mine tour were the park's highest priority.

"We're looking at adding an additional audiovisual experience."

Mr Johnson said park visitors would probably be taken down into the mine on an inclinator to add to the experience.

He said the expansion of the Chinese Village, to include another costume school and extra accommodation, was also important.

He said 28 per cent of the park's visitors were from other countries, with a large number from mainland China.

Mr Johnson said the museum's future looked bright, thanks to community support.

He said the development of a conference centre and accommodation units on land in Main Rd owned by the museum was not included in the five to six year outlook, but was a real possibility for the future.

"It's quite possible we could develop that," Mr Johnson said.