Site no stranger to international guests

The Hawai‘i Convention Center, which is gearing up to host its largest international gathering yet, already has held nine major global events in the year leading up to next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Week.

In the past 12 months, those nine events collectively drew more than 50,000 attendees, including medical professionals, science and technology experts, makers of environmental policy and cultural scholars from more than 100 countries.

But the Nov. 7-13 APEC event, which brings together heads of state from the 21 largest economies in the Asia-Pacific region, will be the largest international gathering in Hawaii history.

The event is expected to generate some $120 million in economic activity for Hawaii while establishing the destination as a crossroads of the Pacific.

About 15,000 to 20,000 will attend, including heads of state, their top ministers, about 1,000 business leaders from the region and 2,000 journalists. APEC could book as many as 120,600 Hawaii hotel room nights in what is traditionally the state’s off-season.

APEC economies represent 44 percent of global trade, 54 percent of global gross domestic product and 40 percent of the world’s population.