Cairns Convention Centre has revealed a first look inside its new event spaces, as its $176 million expansion gets underway.

Once complete, the project will deliver an extra 10,000 square metres of meeting, banquet and exhibition space for the Tropical North Queensland venue.

The redevelopment will be delivered in two stages, starting with refurbishment of the existing centre, including the auditorium, arena and existing meeting rooms.

Stage one is scheduled for completion in February 2021, with events beginning in March 2021.

In stage two, the Cairns Convention Centre expansion will unveil a new exhibition space that will hold 30 booths, a flat-floor plenary space with capacity for up to 410 people and three, 118-pax meting rooms that can also be combined into one.

The brand new Trinity level will also be revealed, with the 500-pax Trinity Room, a large pre-function space and the outdoor terrace with views over the Trinity Inlet.

The expanded spaces will be available to event planners in early 2022.

Tourism Minister Kate Jones said the expansion is one of largest tourism infrastructure projects in Queensland.

“Tourism infrastructure will be crucial to our economic recovery,” she said.

“Once complete the expanded centre will bring around 20,000 extra visitors to the region and inject up to $50 million into the local economy annually.

“This will be a major boost for the Cairns tourism industry, with the additional visitors staying in local hotels, eating at restaurants and touring around the region.”

Once fully complete, the centre will have capacity for 500 delegates in the new expansion and up to 2,500 delegates across the entire centre. The refurbished arena can host up to 5,000 guests.

New logo and branding

Along with a new living, green façade, Cairns Convention Centre will also boast new branding and logos to reflect the destination.

The new logo incorporates both the Great Barrier Reef and Wet Tropics Rainforest representing the only destination in the world where the rainforest meets the reef.

Experience the renewed Cairns Convention Centre! Register for one of our webinars to discover more about the stunning new rooms available for your next event. https://t.co/DuPPOdQeAO pic.twitter.com/J0dEDtDVU2

— Cairns Convention Centre (@CCC_Cairns) July 15, 2020

“With our enviable location near two World Heritage sites of the Wet Tropics Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef, we wanted to highlight these amazing World Heritage listed sites in our new Cairns Convention Centre logo,” said Cairns Convention Centre general manager Janet Hamilton.

“The colour palette reflects the colours of the region that are seen as the sun shines through the rainforest and across the reef.”

More reading

Feature: Cairns puts on a show for business events
First look inside Crystalbrook’s third Cairns hotel, Flynn
UPDATED: How each state plans to lift COVID-19 restrictions