The Conservative Party has confirmed its spring conference will be held at the International Convention Centre Wales (ICC Wales) in Newport next year.
Some 8,000 delegates are expected to attend the conference, with fringe events also being held at the adjoining Celtic Manor Resort.
The conference is a timely boost for the ICC Wales and the Celtic Manor after it was recently announced that 450 jobs were at risk of redundancy due to the economic fallout from the pandemic.
The conference, for which precise dates have yet to be confirmed, is expected to provide a £20m boost for the regional economy, with many delegates staying in hotels across the Cardiff Capital Region.
The £83m ICC Wales, which opened last year, is jointly owned by the Celtic Manor and the Welsh Government.
Co-chairman of the Conservative Party, Amanda Milling MP said: “I’m delighted to announce that we’ll be coming to Newport for the Conservative Party spring conference next year.
“The spring conference will bring together Conservative supporters from across the country in a key election year for Wales.
“The Conservatives have delivered for the people of Wales by getting Brexit done, cutting taxes for over 1.4 million people and putting more police officers on the streets. Next year’s election provides people in Wales the chance to vote for change in the Welsh Parliament by voting for the Conservatives.
“Newport and the whole of Wales play key parts in our plan to level up across the whole United Kingdom and coming to the area reinforces our commitment to the task.”
ICC Wales chief executive Ian Edwards said: “We are delighted to be chosen as the host venue for the Conservative Party spring conference in 2021.
"ICC Wales was conceived and built to transform Wales as a destination for holding business events, and staging this prestigious conference will be another fantastic demonstration of what this venue is capable of.
“We look forward to working with the Conservative Party to deliver an outstanding event in 2021.
"The economic impact for the whole of South Wales is going to be very positive and this will be a tremendous boost to our events industry as we look to recover from the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
