QNCC brings $20mn from overseas visitors to Qatar

Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) has exceeded its first year revenue target within seven months of operation, posting an estimated economic impact of QR72.84 million (US $19.96 million) from overseas visitors.

Speaking at IMEX in Frankfurt, QNCC director of business development Trevor McCartney said that the venue had already hosted 128 events, catering for more than 128,000 visitors.

International events to date have included the 13th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and the 20th World Petroleum Congress, while regional events comprised Geospatial Middle East and Power-gen Middle East.

McCartney revealed that two major conferences and exhibitions were booked for QNCC before the end of 2012: the 25th Universal Postal Union Congress (UPU) from September 24 to October 15 and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (referred to as COP 18/CMP 8) from November 26 to December 7.

“QNCC is expected to generate an estimated economic impact of over QR200 million from these two events alone,” said McCartney.

A minimum of 15,000 delegates representing governments, international organizations and civil societies from all over the world are expected to attend COP 18/CMP 8.

McCartney added: “The sustainable QNCC building is the perfect setting for climate change discussions as it is purpose-built to gold certification in accordance to the Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) standards governed by the US Green Building Council. The Centre was designed to be approximately 32% more efficient compared to a similar designed building”.

QNCC features a conference hall of 4000-seats theatre style, a 2300-seat lyric style three-tier auditorium and 52 meeting rooms. It also houses 40,000m² of exhibition space over nine halls, and is adaptable to seat 10,000 for a conference or banquet.

The facility is managed by AEG Ogden, a joint venture between Australian interests and AEG Facilities of the United States.