{"id":2994,"date":"2020-08-03T13:26:28","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T11:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aliciavalero.com\/the-emirati-dream-postponed-to-2021\/"},"modified":"2021-04-19T12:22:32","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T10:22:32","slug":"the-emirati-dream-postponed-to-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aliciavalero.com\/en\/the-emirati-dream-postponed-to-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"The Emirati Dream Postponed to 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

The emirate of Dubai planned to open its Universal Exhibition, <\/strong>the largest event in the Middle East and Africa, on October 20, 2020. The date was not chosen at random as it coincided with the 50th anniversary of the constitution of the United Arab Emirates as an independent state. Now, COVID has changed the world and so has the date of this important meeting between cultures.   <\/strong><\/p>\n

After years of preparation, the General Assembly of the International Exhibition Office (BIE) approved, last May, the Request of the United Arab Emirates to postpone Expo Dubai 2020. The new date was moved to 1 October 2021 lasting until 31 March 2022.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hotel Boom and unattainable visitor forecasts     <\/strong>
The Universal Exhibition envisaged for this year to receive 25 million people <\/strong>and 70% of them from outside the UAE. To meet these forecasts, and since the UAE is a country very open to tourism and trade, a plan for the development of the hotel sector was established with the creation of more than 80,000 new hotel seats in Dubai<\/strong> by 2020, an increase of almost 58%. Now, all of them empty and waiting to be busy again.<\/p>\n

In addition, the celebration of the Expo was the perfect excuse to equip the city with new tourist megaprojects.<\/strong> Examples include large resorts that house a variety of theme parks inside, such as Dubai Parks & Resorts (Motiongate, Bollywood, Legoland, Legoland Waterpark, Riverland and Lapita) or IMG Worlds of Adventure (Marvel, Lost Valley, Cartoon Network, IMG Boulevard and Novo Cinemas), the world’s largest indoor theme park. However, this great international event, like the Tokyo Olympics, has fallen from the calendar by the pandemic with almost all preparations ready.<\/p>\n

An Expo that will play a key role in the Post-Covid era  <\/strong>
The Dubai Expo had as its motto “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”.<\/strong> The organizers sought to highlight the very history and evolution of the UAE: a country that was born from the union of seven emirates and that has managed to attract human capital from all parts of the world, also becoming the main logistics, commercial and financial center of the region. The Dubai Expo also aspired to become a meeting point where 180 countries would meet to meet the challenges of the future together. In order to channel the dialogue, three sub-themes were established: Opportunity, Mobility and Sustainability. Thus, a new one is presented to include: the post-covid era.<\/p>\n

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“A plan for the development of new 80,000 hotel seats was established in Dubai until 2020 and the construction of tourist megaprojects. Now all of them empty and waiting to be busy again.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Stimulus Perspectives and Plan <\/strong>
Which was to mean an opportunity to attract technology and innovation companies to the city and to enhance the goals of turning Dubai into a Smart City <\/strong>has, for the moment, been forgotten by falls in the price of oil, a drop in real estate demand and a labor force heavily affected in construction and sectors such as aviation and tourism. The $70 million stimulus plan and a tax cut are intended to counteract the effects of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Looking to the future <\/strong>
This is not the first time that modifications have been made to a Universal Exhibition, the Paris Exhibition of 1937 opened several months late due to the tension between the Pavilions of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. That is why Expo Dubai’s organizational committee stated that: “We stand firm in our collective commitment to offer an Expo that is true to its time and shared and urgent priorities. We believe that in light of this global challenge, humanity needs to come together to remember what unites us.<\/strong> That remains the collective ambition of everyone involved in this Expo”<\/p>\n

Expo Dubai 2021 is back on track to welcome us to a new world, much more interconnected and globalized.   <\/p>\n\n\n

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#Expo2020 #Dubai will now open its gates from 1 October 2021 until 31 March 2022, showcasing new ways of thinking that will shape our post-pandemic world at a time when it will be most needed.<\/a><\/p>

A post shared by Expo 2020 Dubai<\/a> (@expo2020dubai) on