17 September 2025
File Ref: IRC-8814
Guy Nunns
[FYI request #31794 email]
Tēnā koe Mr Nunns
Thank you for your email of 28 July 2025 to Te Kaunihera o Pōneke | Wellington City Council (the
Council) requesting information regarding Tākina, Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre
(Tākina)
.
I apologise for the delays in providing a full response. Following the decision letter sent to you on the
8th of September 2025, please find my response to your request below.
Background Information
Tākina was completed and opened on 1 June 2023. It is the first convention and exhibition centre in
New Zealand to have been awarded a 5 Green Star Design Certification.
In its first year, the centre hosted 127 events, two international exhibitions and delivered
approximately $43m in new expenditure to Wellington’s economy. Tākina has gone on to win
architectural construction and property industry awards over the last year recognising the efforts of the
Wellington-based teams involved.
The Council has previously responded to requests for information regarding exhibitions held at
Tākina
, which you may find helpful, please refer to the provided links for details.
Doctor Who Worlds of Wonder
IRC-7520 Dr Who exhibition
Jurassic World by Brickman
IRC-6411 Tākina exhibition
Marvel: Earth’s Mightiest Exhibition
IRC-6411 Tākina exhibition
Our response
1. What was the occupancy rate of the Tākina Convention Centre for the most recent financial
year? (Please include monthly or quarterly breakdowns if available.)
The below table shows the occupancy rate of levels one and two (the conferencing floors) of Tākina,
Wellington Convention & Exhibition Centre, for the past financial year, broken down by quarter. The
lower occupancy rate for January – March is in line with market trends, with this being the least
popular time to host conferences.
Quarter One (Jul-Sep)
58%
Quarter Two (Oct-Dec)
46%
Quarter Three (Jan-Mar)
26%
Quarter Four (Apr-Jun)
43%
The occupancy rate of the public Tangaroa Gallery on the ground floor over the same period has been
100%. These percentages are based on days used of main plenary spaces.
Wellington has retained its market share of national business events delegates over the last two years
since Tākina has opened, in what has been a challenging market for the city following a significant
reduction of government-based meetings and conferences.
Tākina provides a venue for larger national and international conferences. These larger conferences
have not experienced this downturn, organised by associations and academic interests. Since
opening at the beginning of June 2023 Tākina has hosted 11.3% of the Association delegates days in
New Zealand. This is business that previously passed Wellington by as the city lacked a dedicated
convention centre of appropriate scale
2.
What criteria or definition does the Council or its relevant subsidiaries use to determine when
occupancy is considered “achieved” at the Tākina Convention Centre? (E.g., is occupancy based
on number of days booked, square metres used, event attendance, or revenue thresholds?)
Tākina was built to enable Wellington to attract international and domestic conferences for the
economic benefit of the city, region, and country and to provide a place for hosting major exhibitions.
Performance is not only measured by occupancy rates, but through broader indicators that reflect
Tākina’s role in Wellington’s economic growth. Key performance areas include revenue generation
from events, and services, as well as the centre’s economic impact to the city — such as hotel
bookings, and increased activity in local hospitality and retail sectors. Since opening, Tākina has
contributed more than $90M in economic benefit for the city.
3. What total revenue was generated from bookings, lettings, and associated services at the Tākina
Convention Centre during the same financial year? (Please break this down by event type or
revenue stream, if available—e.g., conferences, exhibitions, catering, room hire.)
The financial reporting for Tākina is provided in the Council's Quarterly and Annual Reports (found
here
- Quarterly Reports, and here
- 2023-24 Annual Report).
Tākina operates in a commercially competitive environment to attract conferences, events and
exhibitions to the venue. For this reason, we have refused your request for a further breakdown under
section 7(2)(b)(ii) of the LGOIMA, where the making available of the information would be likely
unreasonably to prejudice the commercial position of the person who supplied or who is the subject of
the information.
4. What were the original occupancy and revenue projections or forecasts for the Tākina
Convention Centre as outlined in its business case, financial model, or pre-construction planning
documents? (Please include any comparisons between forecast and actual figures, if these have
been prepared internally.)
The initial occupancy and revenue projections for Tākina has been provided as Appendix.
It is important to note that these were prepared pre-covid when NZ’s tourism sector and economy
were projecting significant growth. The current economic and tourism climate is markedly different,
and the risks resulting from a global pandemic closing borders and limiting events was not foreseen at
that time. Tākina has performed comparably well to other venues in the market and is a 60+year
investment. Comparing performance against the business case from the first two years of operations
naturally will be impacted by the significant decline in overall NZ economic climate.
As per section 7(1) of the LGOIMA, I do not consider that in the circumstances of this response, the
withholding of this information is outweighed by the other considerations which render it desirable to
in the public interest to make the information available.
You have the right, by way of complaint under section 28(1) of the LGOIMA, to request an
investigation and review of the Council’s decision to refuse information by the Ombudsman.
Information about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
If you require further information, please contact
[Wellington City Council request email].
Nāku noa, nā
Wellington City Council | 2 of 3
Chelsea McHugh
Senior Advisor Of icial Information
Of icial Information & Privacy
Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council | 3 of 3
