International Convention Centre Durban
Conference in Durban

The International Convention Centre Durban is one of the most advanced conference facilities in the world.

The Durban ICC was originally built as a catalyst for economic development for the City of Durban and the KwaZulu-Natal province. This primary mandate was expanded in recent years to include profitability as a self-sustaining entity of the eThekwini Municipality. The 2016 Economic Impact Report reveals that the Centre has continued to make a massive contribution to both the local and national economies and significantly complement the job creation efforts in KwaZulu-Natal. In order to quantify the region’s financial benefit, the expenditure derived from all visitor activity in the relevant economic sectors must be calculated. The report tracks the contribution made in a number of key economic indicators including contribution to KwaZulu-Natal’s Gross Geographic Product, the overall contribution to South Africa’s GDP and the impact this had on job creation. In addition, the study reports on the flow to government taxes, net foreign exchange earnings and the contribution to low-income households. The Durban ICC’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product over the past decade has exceeded R29-billion, not taking into account its contribution in the first nine years of its operation, which was not quantified at the time. The Durban ICC story is one of foresight, vision, co-operation, endeavour, bravery, patience and above all triumph. It is a story that the eThekwini Municipality and the citizens of Durban can be justly proud of. The formation of Operation Jumpstart, which was created to kick-start development in the city and region, brought together role players from all sectors of the community. It recommended as part of its proposals the construction of an international convention centre in Durban. After many months of discussions, the city council approved the proposal to build the centre and the first phase of the development of the Durban International Convention Centre commenced. At the time the Durban ICC was one of the single largest investments made by the City of Durban and represented a statement of confidence by the city fathers and the people of Durban in the future growth and development of the city. Peter Brokenshire became the first Chief Executive Officer of the Durban ICC. From the start the Durban ICC hosted a number of important international events. In 2000 the Durban ICC took over the management of the Durban Exhibition Centre becoming the largest international conference centre in Africa hosting the Indaba Travel Trade Exhibition in its expanded facilities. The next two years saw further important international events hosted at the Durban ICC including the International Ecological Sanitation Conference, the World Chambers of Commerce Congress, the World Conference on Physics and Sustainable Development and the World Congress of Surgery in In 2006 the Durban ICC hosted the World Congress of Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion and the International Sociological Association Conference with Indaba doubling in size as it expanded into the new ICC Arena. Over the years the Durban ICC has also hosted many national conferences, meetings and exhibitions with many returning to the Centre year after year. In addition the Corporate and Government sectors have contributed greatly to the success and prosperity of the Durban ICC. The Durban ICC has proved a pivotal catalyst for the Durban and KwaZulu-Natal economy. The centre has been the trailblazer for the growth of the conferencing, meetings and exhibitions industry in South Africa with the other major cities in South Africa following Durban’s example in constructing convention centres of their own, which collectively have catapulted South Africa into the 32nd ranked global conferencing destination and Africa’s number one conference destination in terms of the ICCA 2014 rankings. The Durban ICC will continue to act as a catalyst for the economic well being of the tourism industry in the city and region with a very important role in offsetting the seasonality that exists in the leisure tourism industry. The Durban ICC is the only convention centre is the country to have achieved all of these certifications.