Our Region
Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is the natural place to meet; a tropical region encouraging genuine connections to nature and each other. Five-star hotels and resorts line the waterfront of Cairns, Palm Cove, Port Douglas, and our tropical islands. Create great moments in the oldest rainforest, choose your own adventure on the largest coral reef and learn from two indigenous cultures.
Cairns Airport ensures easy access to the region; direct services from all Australian capital cities and Asian gateways providing connectivity to Europe and the USA. Our award-winning Cairns Convention Centre was upgraded in 2020 and is expanding with an additional 10,000sqm in 2023. Dine under swaying palms, in cane fields, on historic wharves, and in a World War II oil tank. We know that surrounding your team with great, makes your business greater.
Business Events Cairns & Great Barrier Reef assist event planners considering Cairns, Palm Cove, and Port Douglas for meetings, conferences, exhibitions, and incentives. We invite you to embrace the spirit of this place, where stories are shared and memories are created.
Award-winning Convention Centre
Having recently celebrated 20 successful years of operation, the Cairns Convention Centre is a flagship venue in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, catering for up to 5,000 delegates and attracting a variety of international conferences, corporate meetings, industry exhibitions, and large-scale sporting and entertainment events.
Refurbishment & Expansion
The Cairns Convention Centre is undergoing a $176 million expansion and refurbishment. The 10,000sqm expansion includes a large undercover, tropically planted forecourt, an expanded main entry lobby, a 410 seat plenary lecture space, three 110 seat meeting rooms, exhibition space for up to 30 display booths, a 500 seat banquet/multi-functional space with a large adjoining pre-function space, external decks with spectacular views over Trinity Inlet.
The refurbishment will also include upgrades to meeting spaces in the existing centre. Refurbishment works to the existing Centre will be completed at the end of March and they will commence hosting events in May. Construction on the expansion will continue and will be completed in 2022.
World Class
Winner of the AIPC World’s Best Congress Centre Award in 2004 and 2014, the acclaimed Cairns Convention Centre is an international standard, purpose-built venue located amidst an atmosphere and environment that the rest of the world envies.
The Centre has hosted world leaders for the Pacific Island Forum and APEC meetings, Nobel Laureates at the International Conference on Atomic Physics, international travel professionals for the 2014 Australian Tourism Exchange (ATE14), and Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors as part of the G20 delegation visiting Australia in 2014.
