The largest convention and meeting venues in the province have a total of 2.9 million square feet available and have a combined capacity for 163,192 guests.
While the top 20 are highlighted in the Biggest Convention and Meeting Venues in B.C. list. BIV’s database includes 33 venues located throughout the province.
These venues have been regionally categorized into eight groups: downtown Vancouver, Vancouver proper excluding downtown, Metro Vancouver excluding Vancouver proper, the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, the B.C. Interior, northern B.C. and Whistler.
The majority of the venues in the database are found in Metro Vancouver, with 10 in downtown Vancouver and nine in areas surrounding the city like Richmond, Surrey and the University of British Columbia, classified as Metro Vancouver excluding Vancouver proper.
Downtown Vancouver holds the largest amount of venue space and capacity in B.C. Vancouver proper excluding downtown boasts the next-highest venue capacity at 16,820 people, despite having only three venues listed in the database.
While downtown holds the largest total amount of convention space in the province, venues in the Fraser Valley, including Abbotsford and Chilliwack, tend to be larger than their counterparts in Vancouver, holding 13% more floor place on average.
Outside of Metro Vancouver, B.C.’s Interior has the largest average venue space at 68,500 square feet.
Not surprisingly, downtown Vancouver also boasts the province’s highest average capacity at 10,430 people, more than double that of Vancouver proper excluding downtown, which is the region with the second-highest average, with an average capacity of 5,607. Outside of the Lower Mainland, northern B.C. has the highest average capacity at 4,000.
