#DubaiExpo #ANewCrisisAwaits #2020 For all hosting countries of the World Expo, there have been but two outcomes : If you didn’t get every detail of it right, then the next day you can wake up to a debt-ridden city of architectural blunders or if you do get it right, you could galvanize an economy and open multiple doors of opportunities. The latter though is easier said than done. This time the world watches as Dubai gets ready to host Expo 2020 with a promise to showcase the best of mankind's ingenuity, debut innovations, and national pavilions, giving each country a chance to showcase their culture.
WHAT IS THE WORLD EXPO?
The World Expo is one of the oldest and biggest events on the planet. Every five years, a city takes its turn to host the occasion, which lasts six months at a time and invites every country in the globe to take part in showcasing the best of what they have to offer. Its aim is to help people and nations across the Earth learn by sharing ideas, at the same time demonstrating innovation and further paving the path for progress in fields such as technology and architecture. Which city will host is determined by the Bureau International des Expositions, and the gatherings of minds at the World Expo also means having fun with a new theme every five years.
EXPO 2015 WAS HELD AT MILAN
The last Expo was held in 2015 and hosted by Milan in Italy. More than 20 million people visited Milan Expo 2015 between May 1 2015 to October 31 2015. At the beginning builders were still struggling to complete the 110 hectare site on the outskirts of Milan. The Expo 2015 in Milan was widely seen as a flop.
DUBAI TO HOST NEXT EXPO IN 2020
The next World Expo 2020 Dubai has the theme ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ at its core and takes place from October 20, 2020 until April 10, 2021. The sub themes are : Opportunity, Mobility, and Sustainability. Think of it as an Olympics or a football World Cup, but with the sport stripped out and replaced by tech wizardry, with countries competing to showcase their ideas for solving global problems. The idea dates back to the Great Exhibition in London almost 150 years ago, when the UK wanted to boast of its cultural and industrial prowess, alongside 44 other countries. These days the events are held on a grander scale, but the underlying narrative is not so different.
THE TARGETS SET FOR DUBAI EXPO 2020
Dubai is targeting attracting 25 million visits to the Expo over the six months it's on, from October 2020 to April 2021. That’s around 145,000 visits for every one of the 173 days the site is open. Dubai is expecting 11 million visits by people living in the UAE and 14 million from overseas visitors. The event will, it is hoped, provide a AED122.6bn ($33.4bn) boost to the local economy and support the equivalent of 49,700 full-time jobs a year, according to a recently published economic impact assessment by consultancy firm EY, commissioned by the Dubai authorities. EY divided the impact into three blocks: a seven-year build-up to the Expo, the six months when the Expo is being held, and a ten-year legacy period.
CAN DUBAI’S BEAT ITS CHALLENGES TO MAKE EXPO 2020 A SUCCESS?
The ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum had promised to astonish to world with Expo 2020. He is mentoring the entire project with the aim of bringing in 25M visitors across residential, hospitality and logistics sector. But this is in the middle of Dubai’s worst financial crisis.
• The Emirates GDP has fallen to 1.9% since last year
• Real estate prices have fallen down to 30%
• The downturn from economy started and continues with falling gas prices
• The private sector is also long struggling under government fees
• The Dubai Creek Tower was to be inaugurated in 2020 but the project is far from complete
• International power are accelerating Dubai’s slump with US sanctions on Iran that has hit trade at Jebel Ali port
• UAE’s war on Yemen is costing billions of dollar and harming the reputation of the country
• The debt on Dubai has increased $122.5 bullion
• Tourism, Real Estate and Financial Services and Ports are worst hit
Sustaining strong growth after Expo 2020 and the fiscal stimulus will require capitalizing on new growth drivers that are decoupled from oil prices, and this in turn will require the authorities to build on their on-going structural reform momentum. Question is that with such mammoth challenges, will Dubai be able to make the Expo a catalyst for reviving the economy or are the worst of Dubai’s nightmares yet to come with Expo 2020? Bureau report – NMTV News.
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