International Convention Centre Wales has announced its busiest month for new enquiries and confirmed business since opening in September 2019, following the reopening of the business events sector in Wales and the UK.

During August, Wales’ first purpose-built conference venue, which is in Newport, received 42 new enquiries worth a potential £1.4million and confirmed 29 events worth £1.53m - making it a record-breaking month for the ICC Wales team.

The 29 confirmed events will bring an anticipated 27,000 attendees to the region, with an estimated economic benefit to the local area of more than £22m. Combined with the new enquiries, they represent more than 45,000 delegates with a potential economic benefit to the region in excess of £40 million.

ICC Wales commercial director Jill Manley said: “August would normally be a quiet holiday month, but these fantastic business figures prove there is a real appetite to return to events, which we also saw reflected in our recent ICC Wales and Celtic Collection sentiment survey.

“People clearly want to meet up face-to-face again as soon as possible and now that we’ve been given the green light to reopen business events, much of the apprehension about booking and attending events has been removed.

“ICC Wales is well placed to thrive in our next chapter for meetings and events, with its generously proportioned rooms, expansive foyers, woodland walks, outdoor event space, and out-of-city-centre location.”

The 5,000-capacity ICC Wales is located within the grounds of the Celtic Manor Resort. The venue launched in September 2019 and pandemic restrictions forced it to close its doors for 17 months before reopening last month.

Swinging quickly back to business, ICC Wales welcomes the International Golf Travel Market from October 18 to 21 – the first time the global B2B event for the golf travel industry has been welcomed to the UK.