The International Convention Centre at Sydney's Darling Harbour has cost $1.5 billion to build, resulting in 40 per cent more exhibition space than the previous convention centre.

The new, larger facility – which opened in December – is also part of a $3.5 billion upgrade of the Darling Harbour precinct, which promotes Sydney in the burgeoning travel market that combines business, entertainment, tourism and culture.

It is a heady combination, according to ICC Sydney chief executive Geoff Donaghy, and one which has put the ICC and Sydney's Darling Harbour precinct in the top echelon of business events and conference-based travel.

"The ICC is a unique venue which puts Sydney in the running for the biggest international conferences and exhibitions," says Donaghy. "The only competition in terms of venue and location is probably Hong Kong."

Donaghy says the ICC has more than 700 forward bookings already including local corporate events, national business events and international conferences and conventions.

"In the three months since we opened, we've had 200 events and 350,000 delegates and attendees."

Economic drivers

While the ICC can cater to all client types, he says the national and international events create economic drivers for NSW. They make for eye-opening statistics.

"A convention delegate spends between four and five times as much per day as the leisure visitor," says Donaghy. "So the big conferences and conventions are really sought after by governments around the Asia-Pacific."

ICC Sydney is a public-private partnership that involves the NSW government and a consortium private companies including the venue manager, AEG Ogden. 

"It took three years to construct the ICC," says Donaghy. "It was a gamble from the government because you lose those years. But the strategy is a success."

That's partly because the structure itself is designed for modern needs. For instance, for a recent IT conference it facilitated 6500 concurrent device connections through its Wi-Fi system, which hooks into a high-speed, secure data backbone.

"Delegates these days travel with two or three connected devices," says Donaghy. "They have to be connected at all times."

Flexible design

He says the ICC was designed with some enormous spaces – a 2000-seat ballroom, an 8000-seat plenary hall and 35,000 square metres of exhibition floor space – as well as lots of informal and formal meeting spaces.

"In the old days, you'd have 1000 people at a convention and you'd have to find five spaces for 200 of them to split off and have a conversation. Now you have to find 200 spaces where five people can have a conversation."

Donaghy says the design of the ICC – it can host three mid-size events concurrently and feed delegates from one kitchen but in three separated dining areas – is cutting edge, but its location and employees make it Australia's No.1 business event venue.

"Having a large convention centre right in the CBD and on the harbour is a significant part of the ICC's attraction" and its uniqueness, says Donaghy. "Delegates walk out of a session and they're in Sydney – they feel like they're temporary citizens, not tourists stuck in an isolated precinct."

He says the ICC has 300 full-time staff and is building towards a part-time staff of 1500: "You need really committed, professional people to make all this work."

The precinct is itself a pointer to where business events travel is heading. Adjacent to the ICC is the Sofitel Sydney Darling Harbour, a 590-room, five-star hotel due to open in November.

The $350 million luxury hotel includes 35 suites, bars, restaurants and a ballroom. Simon McGrath, chief operating officer at AccorHotels Pacific, says the hotel is part of the developing business travel scene, which now has the ICC at its centre in Sydney.  

"We'll get about 30 per cent from conventions, 30 per cent from corporate travel and 40 per cent from leisure travellers," McGrath says. "The ICC is a demand generator, but the location is also very important."

McGrath says the new face of business travel can blur the lines between corporate, convention and events-based travel, and leisure. A person attending a conference might add on extra days to meet people for corporate reasons, and their spouse and family for a few days on the end of the trip.

"If you have a location like Darling Harbour, business and professional people can juggle several reasons for their travel."

McGrath says the ICC and Sofitel Darling Harbout site includes a harbour, restaurants and entertainment venues, is within the CBD and a short distance from media and knowledge industries, government buildings, IT and innovation hubs, museums and art galleries and two major universities.

He says the new hotel will bring a luxury option to Accor's other Darling Harbour properties – IBIS and Novotel – and will also capitalise on the location.

Luxury and location

"There's a 'hard' and 'soft' aspect to what we offer the business traveller," says McGrath. "There's the luxury and the location. People have less time to waste, and in this precinct they have a lot of business and tourism options in close proximity."

Targeting of high-end business travellers in the Darling Harbour precinct is typified by the five-star hotel, The Darling.

Adjacent to The Star hotel-casino in the Darling Harbour precinct, The Darling was recently awarded a Forbes Travel Guide five-star rating, the first Sydney hotel to do so.

General manager of hotels at the Star Sydney, John Autelitano, says Darling Harbour has become an intensive tourism area, with a core of business travellers thanks to the ICC.

"Most of our guests are leisure travellers, but we see overflow from the conventions," Autelitano says.

He adds that the multiple attractions of the precinct are attracting five-star hotels to deal with high-net-worth travellers.

"We have penthouses and suites, and one whole floor of the hotel is a spa," says Autelitano. "Our occupancy rates are very high and we have a lot of repeat business."