The opening of Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre, New Zealand’s first next-generation venue, coincided with the end of the pandemic.
Having a brand-new, world-class, purpose-built convention centre has meant that we are now attracting a stream of large conferences.
The award-winning building reflects the unique culture of the region and features modern, flexible spaces including 24 meeting rooms, 1,400 seat auditorium, 200 booth exhibition hall, riverside banquet room and VIP spaces.
- New Zealand’s second largest city punches above its weight as a knowledge hub and is rapidly gaining international attention. Christchurch’s thriving tech sector is backed by three tertiary institutions with world-class expertise in health tech, aerospace, and engineering. It is New Zealand ‘s hub for aerospace and many of the city’s aerospace projects have strong environmental, sustainability and humanitarian considerations.
- Christchurch is one of five international Antarctic Gateway cities, and numerous international Antarctic programmes base themselves here. A flurry of activity happens in the city every spring, ahead of the Antarctic summer season.
- Delegates have a light footprint in our city, with excellent shopping and dining within a few minutes easy walking distance in this vibrant, compact city. Delegates really feel as though they are a part of the community while they are here. With 790 city parks and gardens, more than 55,000 trees, it is also a beautiful place to spend time in nature.
ChristchurchNZ Business Events offers free advice and support, bid assistance and marketing resources to help organizers attract and host successful international conferences.
The team can also assist with flexible, competitive, and business-specific funding for international conferences.
Through our extensive network of business partners and local knowledge we can connect organizers with all the experts they need.
Christchurch is home to many world-class venues. Te Pae Christchurch Convention Centre is located in the heart of the city. Other facilities include cutting-edge health and innovation precincts, and performing arts venues such as the Christchurch Town Hall and The Isaac Theatre Royal.
The city’s largest indoor venue currently is the Wolfbrook Arena, with space for a gala dinner experience for up to 2,500 guests.
One New Zealand Stadium will open in April 2026 with capacity for 30,000 and a suite of state-of-the-art meeting and event spaces.
Venues with a difference include the award-winning architecture of the Transitional ‘cardboard’ Cathedral, designed by Shigeru Ban, and the historic Great Hall in the Arts Centre. The Air Force Museum of New Zealand, 15 minutes’ drive from the central city on the site of a former Royal New Zealand Air Force base, is ideal for large conferences and uniquely themed gala dinners.
Many residential conferencing options are available both within the city and around the airport precinct.
Christchurch has more than 6,000 new or refurbished rooms with a wide variety of accommodation, from boutique luxury lodges and self-serviced apartments to modern hotels. Several new central city hotels are currently in development.
Most accommodation is within easy reach of the city’s meeting and conference venues and retail, hospitality, and entertainment precincts.
Getting to Christchurch is easy. It is only three hours flying time from Australia and nine to 12 hours from other countries on the Pacific Rim. Christchurch welcomes more than 115 international flights every week, including direct services from Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Dubai and San Francisco. Passport holders from more than 50 countries do not require a visa for short stays here.
Christchurch Airport has a dedicated Welcome Lounge for business events travellers, with interchangeable branding to suit each event. The airport also offers high impact digital signage throughout the airport campus to welcome conference visitors. And it is an easy 20 minute drive along beautiful tree-lined avenues to the city centre.
Christchurch has been named the happiest city in New Zealand, and it’s not hard to understand why, with all the incredible South Island bucket-list experiences right on our doorstep.
We love to share our best-kept secrets with conference guests. Our natural hot pools, soaring mountains, ice blue lakes, braided rivers and Aoraki Mackenzie Dark Sky Reserve – the Southern Hemisphere’s largest gold-rated dark sky reserve - are not to be missed.
For a dose of wildlife, getting up close with whales, dolphins and seals on the coast in Kaikōura, a few hours north of the city, is a must. One hour from Christchurch, in the beautiful French seaside village of Akaroa, dolphin and penguin tours are excellent pre or post conference options too.
Savouring the freshest food, wine and produce from our region is a big part of the experience for delegates. Meeting artisan local producers, award-winning winemakers, and visiting local farmers’ markets and colourful country stores always leaves a lasting impression.
To inquire about conference facilities, contact Claire Hector-Taylor, Business Development Manager International, ChristchurchNZ
Issue #13 – November 2024