Halifax Convention Centre Will Lose $7.5 Million This Year
HALIFAX—The next year is set to be a banner one for conventions in the city but the Halifax Convention Centre (HCH) will cost the city millions of dollars.
Events East Group is the organization that runs the HCH and Scotiabank Centre. On July 12, CEO Carrie Cussons told Halifax Regional Council that Events East will run an approximately $7.5-million deficit over the 2022/2023 fiscal year.
That’s an improvement over the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when Events East went more than $11 million into the red.
RELATED: Halifax, Province On The Hook For $11-Million Convention Centre Debt
Cussons told the council the city is seeing “a return to historical event volumes and attendance levels” and is on track to have its best calendar year to date.
“In-person events are back,” Cussons said.
She also predicted that demand for conventions will remain strong in the coming years. The Events East team has noticed people are hungry to return to in-person events after years of pandemic restrictions. She said Halifax is well-positioned to capitalize.
Events East aims to host approximately 120 events, with 70,000 delegates, at the Halifax Convention Centre, including 30 national and international events.
Meanwhile, its target for “annual direct spending” associated with conventions and events is approximately $40 million. That’s a significant jump from the $10-12 million target from 2021-2022 but “does not represent a full recovery” from pre-pandemic times.
The company’s target for 2019-2020, before Covid-19, was $55 million.
The fact that Events East isn’t yet back to pre-pandemic revenue also means the municipality is on the hook for millions of dollars of Events East’s operating costs.
HRM is a 50/50 partner with the provincial government on the HCH and must cover half of its operating costs. This year’s $7.5-million deficit means the municipality will be on the hook for $3,725,000.
The HCH has historically been a money-loser. Before the pandemic, a “normal” year would see the Convention Centre end up about $6 million in the red, thanks to building costs and property taxes. That meant an approximately $3-million bill for the municipality.
The municipality pays its half of the Convention Centre debt from a reserve fund that’s topped up each year with property tax revenues from the Nova Centre.
After the municipality withdraws the $3,724,715 for this year’s bill, the fund will be left at just under $2 million. That’s down from $2,821,563 in April of 2022 and about $3.7 million in 2020.
The dwindling reserve has in the past been a source of concern for some councillors.
In 2020, when the HRM had to shell out more than $11 million to cover Events East’s Covid-fueled losses, Coun. Same Austin questioned how quickly the fund was being depleted.
He said he understood there were extraordinary circumstances but that the reserve “wasn’t in good shape, even in good times.”
“Topping it up each and every year doesn’t seem to be working that well,” Austin said. “It [hasn’t been] balancing how we hoped to have it from the get-go.”
However, most of council appeared excited by the positive convention outlook in Halifax, and how many people they will bring to the city.
Trevor Nichols is the Associate Editor of Huddle based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].