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No wonder every city, state and country wants to build a convention centre; the opportunities appear limitless, as can be seen following birthday celebrations at two venues in recent weeks.
In May Christchurch’s purpose-built convention centre, Te Pae, celebrated its second year of operation and is doing very nicely indeed, while in Sydney, the ICC’s management team has just inked another 10 year deal after a bumper seven years running the mega-venue.
ASM Global’s ICC Sydney management team opened the ICC Sydney in December 2016. Seven years on it is well on target for delivering $5 billion in economic benefit for the venue’s first 25 years of operation. At the end of year seven the ICC Sydney has delivered 3,665 core events and welcomed 6.4 million attendees who have been estimated to have spent $3.9 billion in the local economy. That’s everything from accommodation to food to transport and no doubt some shopping thrown in for good measure.
And to top off all that good news, ICC Sydney CEO and Group Director of Convention Centres at ASM Global (APAC), Geoff Donaghy, said benefits extend even further to the venue’s long supply chain including regional NSW food and wine producers, creative arts and community partners.
“ICC Sydney’s mission continues to be to make a difference for greater Sydney and NSW residents, visitors and businesses, and our extensive calendar of events has already contributed to 7.22 million hotel room nights and the creation of 21,395 jobs in the local economy,” he said.
“The venue has also spent $370 million with local suppliers, including $65 million spent directly with NSW food and beverage suppliers.”
Across the ditch in Christchurch, more than 200,000 attendees have taken part in events at Te Pae since the convention centre hosted its first event in May 2022.
The 458 events held at Te Pae Christchurch over the past two years have included 146 multi day conferences – 29 of which were international – 19 exhibitions, 131 banquets, 157 meetings and five live performances. In total, these events have attracted 204,420 attendees over the past 24 months.
The impressive economic and broader benefits for the city and the region are the reason the New Zealand Government invested in Te Pae as part of the Central Christchurch Recovery Plan which was developed after the devastating earthquake in 2011.
Explains John O’Hagan, chief executive of Rau Paenga Limited, the Crown infrastructure delivery agency that built and owns the facility, the goal was to catalyse spending and social activity in the central city for decades to come by building an international standard convention centre within walking distance of hotels, shops and restaurants.
That vision appears to certainly be paying dividends now, with Te Pae general manager, Ross Steele, saying the venue has far outstripped all expectations in the first two years.
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