Conference & Exhibition Centre Opens a World of Opportunities for Wellington

Wellington’s future as a business events destination has been assured with Wellington City Council giving the green light for the new Conference and Exhibition Centre (CEC).

Release time : 2018-12-13 11:09:02

source : Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency

Wellington’s future as a business events destination has been assured with Wellington City Council giving the green light for the new Conference and Exhibition Centre (CEC).

Construction on the 18,000-square-metre (sqm) CEC, which features 10,000sqm of dedicated convention space spread across its top two floors and a 1,650 sqm ground-floor exhibition gallery to accommodate touring exhibitions, is set to start next year.

WREDA’s Regional Development Destination and Attraction General Manager David Perks says the council’s decision to build a world class facility enhances Wellington’s position as a leading conference destination in Australasia.

“Wellington has always been competitive with the conference venues available in the city but the WCEC will take things to a new level. It will enable the city to not only retain its current share of conferences but also put in bids for larger international conferences that would simply have been too big for existing venues. It will put us on an equal footing with Auckland and Christchurch who both have conference venues under construction, and the Australian market where all major cities have purpose-built convention facilities.

“It will also allow Wellington’s core performance venues such as the Opera House and Michael Fowler Centre to focus entirely on performance events. This will help increase the number and variety of live concerts and shows being staged in Wellington.”

Mr Perks says the business events market is currently worth around $240 million to the city and is among the most lucrative within Wellington’s tourism portfolio.

“Business event visitors each spend on average $299 a day compared to non-business event visitors who spend $190 each a day. That spending gets spread across the city on things such as accommodation, transport, eateries and bars, and in the retail sector.

“BERL’s [Business and Economic Research Ltd’s] CEC