Te Pae Christchurch reaches new milestone

Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre has hit a major operational milestone, notching up one year since its first conference. Since 2 May 2022, the Centre has hosted 234 events for more than 129,700 delegates – including 70 conventions, seven exhibitions, 76 banquets, 79 meetings and seminars, and two live entertainment events. According to the venue, these events generated more than AUD $50m(USD $33.4m) in direct economic value for the city of Ōtautahi Christchurch during that time. On the Centre’s successful year, Te Pae Christchurch general manager Ross Steele said: “It’s fair to say we had a challenging start with our first events coming just a few weeks after the move to the orange traffic light setting,” said Steele. “Since then the team has gone from strength to strength, delivering 234 events over the past year.” With a number of the events – including 59 of the conferences – hosted by local and national organisations, Steele noted that the Centre received strong support from New Zealand companies during its inaugural year. One of the Centre’s first events was the Harcourts National Conference for 1000 delegates in mid-May 2022. A few weeks after the Centre opened, Harcourts New Zealand’s head of events Jennie Harrison said that the event required a great deal of planning, especially as the events industry continued to navigate Covid-19 restrictions and requirements. “In terms of the actual conference itself, everybody was pleased with how well that went,” she said. “One of the resounding comments from the Christchurch locals was how proud they were to have it back in Christchurch and to have it there.” With about 200 events expected through to the end of the year Steele said that, while 11 of the conventions hosted in the past 12 months were international events, the coming year will see an increase in them – bringing added benefits to the city such as business growth. Emma Walsh, marketing and brand experience manager at Oxford Group, which manages a number of central city bars, said the opening of Te Pae Christchurch had been a game changer in terms of early week trade. “For those conventions that run from Sunday to Wednesday, we’ve really seen an uptake – there are a lot more people out and about early week, which is really exciting to bring more rhythm into the city,” Walsh concluded.