Beijing's China National Convention Centre - the site of several Olympic contests last year - has booked 173 events for 2010 and beyond.
The centre is due to open in November 2009 after an extensive retro-fitting to convert the facilities from their roles as sporting halls to their originally intended functions as a convention and exhibition centre.
Among events booked are 56 international or regional association congresses, 66 national meetings as well as several government and corporate meetings.
Events on the books are expected to attract 320,000 attendees to the centre, which has 23,600 square metres of meeting space and 36,000 square metres of exhibition and ancillary space.
The retro-fitting exercise included the replacement of sport-style seating with a retractable tiered-seating system offering 5,700 seats on two levels in the plenary hall, the installation of sound-proof dividers in the ballroom to create three halls, interior décor upgrading to create the ambience for conferencing and the upgrading of systems to cater for Western and Chinese banquets.
Image: China National Convention Centre
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