The CEO of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing on Thursday admitted he had to be “realistic” about the number of visitors attending the Expo 2020 later this year amid the ongoing impact of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Before the pandemic struck and the mega event was postponed for a year, organisers of Expo 2020 Dubai were targeting a total of 25 million visitors over the six-month long event.
Speaking at the International Tourism & Investment Conference on Thursday, Issam Kazim said: “To be honest, I think the numbers will be different, right? Because we have to be realistic about that because there are so many factors at play here.”
While he said he remained optimistic, he added that many factors remained out of Dubai’s control.
“We are ready, the appetite is there but it all depends right now on the developments that are happening across the world,” he said, referring to the opening and closing of tourism source markets across the globe due to the pandemic.
He also promised “something for everyone” at the Expo, which opens in October and which will feature at least one live event every day over the entire six months until the end of March 2022.
Kazim (pictured above) also touched on the recovery being seen in the emirate’s tourism sector since it started to reopen in July following the initial impact of coronavirus.
He noted that Dubai saw 40,000 visitors in July 2020 but that number has jumped to 450,000 in March, adding that this was a “very welcome” increase but still “not where we want to be”.
Before the pandemic arrived, Dubai had seen year after year of tourist number increases with 16.73 million visitors in 2019.
January and February last year continued this trend but then coronavirus changed everything.
Earlier this week, Kazim said Dubai is aiming to be the “meeting place of the world” as global events in the emirate ramp up and other parts of the world struggle to host as they continue to cope with lockdowns and restrictions.
Research carried out after events such as Gulfood and Gitex is helping Dubai gauge the confidence among attendees, with surveys showing that almost 90 percent felt safe at every stage of the experience visiting an exhibition.
On Tuesday, officials revealed that the UAE is now the first country globally in the number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the total population.
Follow us on
