What ICC Sydney means

Sydney is a magnificent city that international travellers dream of visiting for both business and leisure. It provides a truly unique offering of golden beaches, iconic attractions, and a burgeoning knowledge economy through its esteemed research, scientific and technology communities. I’m pleased to report that Sydney’s global magnetism is set to intensify even further from December, thanks to the opening of International Convention Centre Sydney (ICC Sydney), Australia’s premier convention, exhibition and entertainment precinct. ICC Sydney is the $1.5 billion centrepiece of an AU$3.4 billion transformation of Darling Harbour. It is expected to provide at least $5 billion dollars in economic benefit to New South Wales over the next 25 years, and will play a pivotal role in increasing the city and country’s market-share of the business events industry. Some of the most coveted events in the world have already chosen ICC Sydney as their future host, including the likes of Sibos, Reed Gift Fairs and Amway China. During Sibos alone, more than 8,000 international delegates are expected to visit Sydney, injecting up to $50 million into the local economy. Business events are a major economic driver for our nation across the board, as tens of millions of national and international delegates attend business events across Australia every year, and generate billions in direct expenditure. This positive financial impact is not limited to any one venue. Local hotels receive a huge boost in secured bookings while the rest of the city enjoys increased patronage to restaurants, shops, theatres, and other tourist attractions from visiting delegates. In even better news, these particular visitors traditionally spend more than six times that of their traditional leisure counterparts. Convention centres play an important role as the interface between tourism and knowledge economies, and ICC Sydney has been built from the ground up to help underpin Sydney’s prime position on the international stage. Catering to events big and small, the integrated offering includes five star convention and exhibition centres, 8,000m2 of meeting room space, the largest purpose-built Grand Ballroom in the region, a 5,000m2 open air event deck, and three individual theatre spaces, including the 8,000 seat ICC Sydney Theatre, which houses Australia’s biggest stage area. Alongside state-of-the-art facilities, ICC Sydney will provide service excellence across the board, including a superior dining and bespoke event designs that will ensure more and more visitors grace our shores for decades to come. We are seeing this confidence reflected through increasing levels of suppor t and business enquiries. In fact, over 400 events have already been secured to date. It is without doubt one of the most exciting projects to take place in our city for a long time and I am very much looking forward to formally welcoming you to the new face of Sydney at the end of the year.