After a decade of construction - punctured by a devastating fire in 2019, the pandemic and legal spats over delays - the $1 billion New Zealand International Convention Centre is nearly ready for the public.
Owner SkyCity originally hoped to open the NZICC - built by Fletcher Building - in 2020.
But now that it’s finally set to open - the date was revealed today as February 11 next year - it will hit the ground running, NZICC general manager Prue Daly says.
Daly says 121 events are booked for 2026.
They range from events with under 100 people to those with hundreds attending huge conferences. So far, the NZICC has at least 10 conferences booked with at least 1000 estimated attendees (see table below).
Nearly all of the NZICC’s space - including its cavernous exhibition space that can accommodate 4000 people standing for a one-off event, is modular with sections able to be closed off for smaller events or breakout sessions.
That same space can cater for 3200 people for a seated dinner or 400 booths for a trade show.
There is also a 2850-seat theatre and the “glass cube” top floor. There can be up to 33 meeting rooms at any one time.
Inside the NZICC theatre pic.twitter.com/F0Pi3NYcoc
— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) December 1, 2025
A motorised-everything approach means even the theatre can have its traditional seating pushed back and be set up for a dinner for more than 1000.
All up, there’s 32,500sq m of space.
While many convention centres operate over one or two levels - like Christchurch’s 28,000 Te Pae (opened in 2022) or Wellington’s 18,000sq m Tākina (opened in 2023) - two venues that Daly calls “frenemies” - the NZICC is stacked over five levels.
And it won’t just be the likes of gynaecologists (March 2026), anaesthetists (April 2026) or pest controllers (July 2026) from around the globe riding its many escalators.
NZICC will also hold concerts, including Bic Runga on March 27 and The Pogues on April 11.
Daly said concert promoters had told her the NZICC was filling a gap in the market for a 3000-person venue.
The largest event booked for 2026, the International Coral Reef Symposium next July, will have an estimated 2000 attendees and generate 12,000 visitor nights and an estimated economic impact of $5.1m.
The Annual Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention Conference 2027 (MICCAI 2027) - the world’s leading forum for medical imaging, robotic surgery and image-guided surgery - will see nearly 3000 world-leading AI researchers, clinicians and biomedical engineers gather in Auckland from September 26 to October 1, 2027.
That conference is estimated to generate an economic impact of $5.7m and approximately 15,500 visitor nights.
International academic conferences are one of Daly’s prime targets. She has a staff member dedicated to scouring the globe for events that the NZICC could potentially host.
The MICCAI win was also typical of the approach to landing business.
NZICC pitched for the conference in co-operation with the Auckland Convention Bureau (a new wing of Auckland Council’s events and economic development agency Auckland Unlimited, formerly Ateed) and Tourism NZ, which chipped in several hundred thousand dollars to help lure the international medical conference.
Where does that several hundred thousand dollars come from?
In September, the Government announced a $70m events package aimed at boosting tourism numbers - including a $40m events attraction fund and a one-off contestable $10m “events boost” fund to support events run over the next year.
About $45m of the package was new funding, with the balance re-allocated from other areas.
Daly says there will be an immediate return on the investment, with 15 of the events booked so far (and counting) estimated to have an economic impact of more than $20m.
The NZICC is expected to create up to 500 full and part-time jobs.
It’s projected to attract 33,000 new international visitors annually, contributing $90m in new economic spending, in part from generating more than 160,000 extra visitor nights.
SkyCity owns three hotels connected to the NZICC - the SkyCity Hotel, the Grand by SkyCity and the Horizon Hotel opened in August last year, with a combined 930 rooms between them.
Inside the NZICC’s expo space pic.twitter.com/sIkUMVcInt
— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) December 1, 2025
The firm is looking to the NZICC to lift occupancy rates and revenue per room.
The casino operator’s latest annual report also says “NZICC creates substantial synergies with our entertainment offerings”.
On the NZICC’s top floor pic.twitter.com/QhP9ahLNsz
— Chris Keall (@ChrisKeall) December 1, 2025
“We’re booking three to five years in advance,” Daly says.
“2026 and 2027 are pretty locked and loaded. We’re now looking at 2028, 2029 and 2030. We’ve got inquiries all the way up to 2032.
The “suite of events” in February will be Sky-organised. Daly says they will include an open day for the public.”
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.