SkyCity NZICC officially opens: Auckland’s convention centre welcomes first guests
Wednesday, 11 February 2026
In the early light of this morning the New Zealand International Convention Centre officially opens, with local iwi Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei leading a karakia and a ceremonial procession through the building that represents one of the most serious efforts to date to bring international conference goers to this country.
The opening is the culmination of project that dates back to a controversial deal in 2013 between casino and entertainment group SkyCity and the then-National government headed by Sir John Key.
But the completion of the conference centre was set back by a devastating fire in late 2019 when it was just months away from completion, a blaze that shrouded Auckland in a blanket of smoke.
SkyCity chief executive Jason Walbridge hailed the opening as a moment of importance for the company, which is executing a turnaround strategy to revive its share price, and win back the love of its shareholders and trust of regulators.
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“It’s a really significant milestone for us,” Walbridge said. “This has been a long awaited opening, and we’re just tremendously excited about the benefits for New Zealand, for Auckland, and for SkyCity.
“We hope to attract more than 33,000 new international visitors to New Zealand.That that will be great for us as a company, but it’ll also be fabulous for all of Auckland more broadly, and New Zealand too.”
Success for SkyCity would be for NZICC to break even by 2027, and for it to drive greater usage of its hotels, restaurants and other facilities.
“Success for Sky City is about unlocking higher value visitation for us,” he said. “The real value comes from attracting visitors who are going to stay with us longer, spend more money, and travel in periods that are traditionally quieter for the city.”
However, many of the benefits of the NZICC have already flowed to SkyCity, which got an extension of its Auckland casino licence and extra gaming machines and tables in the 2013 deal with the Key government, which angered gambling lobbyists.
On Thursday next week SkyCity will update its shareholders on its half-year results, and speak more about its financial expectations for the NZICC.
Following a horror run which started with the 2019 fire, shareholders have seen the value of their shares fall from just over $3.70 to just over 90 cents.
SkyCity contributed to its own struggles through anti-money laundering and problem gambling supervision failures which prompted regulators to take action in Australia and New Zealand.
Success for the NZICC would also be a busy calendar of conferences and other events, Walbridge said.
He gave the example of July’s Coral Reef convention with 2000 attendees, generating 12,000 visitor days and more than $5m of estimated economic benefit for the city.
The Te Paepae Theatre in the convention centre is now the largest in Auckland with 2850 seats.
On Friday, it will get its official first gig with rock band Six60 holding a concert there.
After many years of building work, and disruption to local businesses from development work on the City Rail Link project is drawing towards completion, and there are hopes of a rebirth for the central city.
Anti-social behaviour has left some fearful of visiting the central city, and prompted central Auckland business groups to ask ministers for stronger tools and urgent action to deal with it.
In recent weeks media have been invited to preview events at NZICC including a menu preview last week, and a walk-through of the nearly-completed building in November.
The scale of the convention centre is like nothing else in New Zealand, though it’s got nothing on the giants of world convention centres like the Hannover Messe and the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai with covered exhibition space of around 400,000m².
The main floor of the SkyCity International Convention Centre is large at 6700m².
That single huge exhibition hall could be split up using moveable walls, but it’s larger than the other large exhibition halls around the country.
Wellington boasts the 1280m² exhibition hall at the Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Hamilton’s Mystery Creek conference hall is 2052m² in size.
Christchurch’s Te Pae convention centre can combine its exhibition halls into a 2845m² space.
Auckland’s ASB Showground’s pavilions 3 and 4 combine to make a 5544m² space.
But all five of those huge spaces added together could fit into just one of the 13 giant 30,000m² exhibition halls at the National Exhibition and Convention Centre in Shanghai, with plenty of space to spare.
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