Sun
A key part of the future of British Columbia’s meetings and conventions industry – the expansion of the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre – continues to progress on the city’s harbourfront. And every day, it gets closer to resembling the world-class facility design rendering that residents and visitors have been admiring since our groundbreaking in November 2004.
Upon completion of the expansion, the VCEC will form one of the largest public facilities in BC – comprising four city blocks – and will enable the VCEC to maximize business opportunities and benefits. Combine that with the centre’s pivotal role in the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and it all adds up to one of BC’s most important economic development projects.
And while the building is going up, the business is rolling in! A worldwide marketing campaign has been underway for more than three years, reflecting the often lengthy decision period – sometimes up to eight years – for larger conventions. As a result, the VCEC expansion has a high level of market awareness which has driven strong sales results.
54 events are already contracted or confirmed from the centre’s projected opening date onward and 29 of these are expansion events that wouldn’t have been able to fit into the existing facility. Together, these events will deliver a forecasted 738,624 non-resident delegate days and an estimated $1.1 billion in overall economic impact.
Expansion would simply not have happened without the tremendous success that the facility has enjoyed in the diversity of markets it has pursued over the past 20 years. Turning away business due to lack of both space and dates for so many years was a strong indicator of the size of the business opportunity that expansion would address.
The VCEC’s expansion will attract a much larger number of delegates to BC and will help grow the size and quality of the province’s overall convention business. It will enable the VCEC to host multiple, simultaneous events as well as larger events that the existing facility cannot currently accommodate. It will also enable BC to take advantage of the global exposure it will receive from events like the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
The VCEC is well on its way to realizing all of the features and function spaces it needs to move into a new level of market opportunity. Expansion will not only create a new landmark, it will also deliver an array of economic and business benefits to the province. At the same time, it will provide a “people” place for the entire community, completing the conversion of Coal Harbour from an industrial site to one of the most spectacular urban waterfront venues in the world.
Thank you British Columbia, for your past support and your continued commitment as we move ahead to this new and exciting phase!
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
