A new convention centre at the Celtic Manor Resort will bring millions of pounds into the local economy according the chief operating officer of the resort.

Ian Edwards told Business Argus that research carried out at the very beginning of the project to build a convention centre at the resort found that many of the organisations which use these sorts of venues for trade shows, conventions and conferences gave the idea of building one in Wales a huge thumbs up.

He said it was recognised practice for events and conferences to travel around the UK using England, Scotland and Ireland in rotation but they have been unable to include Wales in that cycle as there wasn’t a venue big enough on this side of the Severn Bridge.

The convention centre is currently at the outline planning stage and Mr Edwards hopes to go for full planning consent later this year.

He said: “It is a costly exercise going through full planning but that is our intention and Sir Terry Matthew’s intention to build it here. Nothing is definite until we break ground but we have a very strong vibe that that will happen.

“We already have people planning to come to a convention centre at the resort. We held some focus groups at the beginning of the process with conference agencies, production companies, the association markets and clients who host the events and we asked them if they would come if we built a convention centre. Without fail everyone said yes.”

He said that the centre would not only benefit the Celtic Manor Resort but also hotels from Cardiff to Chepstow.

“Hoteliers across South Wales are still buzzing about the Nato Summit held here earlier this month and they are really keen to support a convention centre at the resort.”

Currently the resort ploughs £25m into the local economy each year in the form of wages, contracts of local firms, and the purchasing of food and other items, which they try to keep as local as they can.

The convention centre will mean more jobs from the construction phase right through to when it is operational, which will in turn mean more money going back into the local economy.

On top of that it will also see an increase in the number of business tourists coming to the area.

Mr Edwards said business tourists usually spend three times as much in the local economy as ordinary tourists. The convention centre is likely to be able to cater for upwards of 3,000 delegates – all of whom would not be able to stay at the Celtic Manor due to the size of the hotel so they would be looking for rooms in other hotels in the region.

He said that hosting the Nato Summit, and before that the Ryder Cup, have had a huge impact on boosting the profile of south east Wales and Wales as a whole.

Mr Edwards said: “I think the Nato Summit was a resounding success. It achieved everything we wanted from a Wales point of view. We do conferences day in, day out here for all sorts of blue chip companies but what we wanted to achieve for ourselves and all the partners involved in staging the summit, from Newport City Council right up to Downing Street, was to get Wales seen as a business destination.

“We wanted to put business tourism back on the agenda.

“It couldn’t have gone any better. The feel good factor is still there. Everyone is still buzzing about it. There is a feeling that this was a great event for Wales – and that is what we set out to achieve.”

Mr Edwards said the resort would never have been able to host the Nato Summit without all the infrastructure which had been put in place for the 2010 Ryder Cup.

“The Ryder Cup was a really important platform. It was the event which enabled us to go on and host the summit. Without it Nato would not have come to Wales.”

He said: “There will be a legacy for the area without a doubt, and for the Celtic Manor and our partners who helped host Nato.

“It is how we go after that business tourism which is now so important and the convention centre will certainly help us do that,” he said.