Dubai: Five official cities bidding for World Expo 2020 are making their best presentations on Wednesday at the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) or International Exhibitions Bureau, to win the right to host the world’s largest such event.
Dubai (UAE), Izmir (Turkey), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Ayutthaya (Thailand) and Yekaterinburg (Russia) are in the race to win the coveted prize.
Dubai is one of the front-runners to secure the bid, which will be announced in November following a vote by BIE’s 163 members. The emirate is bidding under the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ — reflecting the unique selling point of Dubai and the UAE.
“Dubai Expo 2020 will leave a lasting legacy not only in the UAE but also beyond its borders. As our theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ suggests, Dubai Expo 2020 aims to welcome the world to collaborate and build partnerships for sustainable development,” Reem Al Hashemi, UAE Minister of State and Managing Director of the UAE’s Higher Committee for Hosting the 2020 World Expo in Dubai, said in a recent statement. “In that, Dubai Expo 2020 will spur significant employment, trade and investment opportunities for the entire MENASA region, leaving lasting economic impact.”
Among the five, Dubai — with a population of more than 2 million people — is the most ‘connected’ city in the world. More than 60 million people travel through the city of which more than 10 million live in its roughly 600 hotels and serviced apartments a year.
“In today’s increasingly connected world, humanity’s challenges cannot be solved alone. In the UAE, we believe in the convening power of the Word Expo. Together, we have the ability to identify global concerns, stimulate new ideas and generate solutions for a better, brighter future,” Al Hashemi said.
In fact, Dubai is one of the few global hubs that provide non-stop connection to major cities across six continents. The emirate is connected to more than 220 cities. Dubai’s own airline — Emirates — serves 133 destinations through Dubai. It brings African traders to Dubai to meet Chinese businessmen — and vice-versa, thus enabling global trade and investment.
“If Expo is hosted in an area with good logistics, such as Dubai, the inefficiencies and deadweight loss of development seen is host cities of major sports events, for instance, are minimised,” Andrew Scott, Professor of Economics and Deputy Dean at London Business School, said. “Given Dubai’s infrastructure and the current state of the property market, hosting Expo should give both a short-term boost to the economy and with relatively small long run adverse effects.”
For West Africa’s neglected businesses, Emirates provides the best facilities in the form of connectivity to the rest of the world. Similarly, those who want to explore opportunities in the virgin markets or developing economies, Emirates provide the best options — via Dubai, whose unique selling points also include trade, retail and tourism.
“Tourism is a vital pillar of Dubai’s economy and has contributed to the city’s economic growth, success and diversification,” Helal Saeed Al Marri, Director General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing and CEO of the Dubai World Trade Centre, said in a statement.
Dubai expects to attract 25 million visitors — something others might have difficulty in pulling — to the World Expo 2020, if held in the emirate. With Dubai’s and Emirates Airline’s great strengths and synergies, it’s more than a possibility. For most other cities — there aren’t even enough direct flights from major hub airports, to be able to secure that type of visitor numbers.
“With the strength of Dubai’s infrastructure, geographic location and global connectivity, Dubai Expo 2020 can expect to attract 25 million visitors during the six months between October 2020 and April 2021, 71 per cent of which would originate from outside the host nation for the first time in Expo history,” Al Marri said.
“This is important because the additional demand created by World Expo would provide real and exciting opportunities in employment, new attractions and incentives for the travel and tourism sector, not just for the UAE but for neighbouring countries in the region and beyond.”
Analysts feel that it’s high time that the World Expo, which has never been held in the Middle East or the Arab World, in its 162-year history, takes place in the Arab World. Dubai, which does things in style — could perhaps be the best host of the global event.
“Dubai has consistently proved its credentials as a global showcase of splendour, perfection, elegance, right cultural fit and value for money,” Tariq Chauhan, Group Managing Director of EFS Facilities Services LLC, told Gulf News.
“It has a world class infrastructure that is crucial for such an event — by far making it the most deserving destination to host such an event,” he said.
Chauhan says ancillary services are bound to get a direct impact as small shopping and other small and medium enterprises (SMEs) usually flourishes with any upsurge of tourists in the catchment areas.
“Above all, the domestic industries of the UAE will be able to showcase their products and it boasts of large SMEs in this segment,” he says. “Besides, business tourists are usually large leisure spenders in context to dining out, entertainment and often brings families.
The Expo is being planned as a flagship event by the governmental leaders so will surely host attractive events and provide a lifetime shopping opportunity. We are very excited with the event and eagerly awaiting the opportunity.”
