Expo Dubai 2020 postponed to October 2021
The Universal Exposition of Dubai 2020 has been postponed until October 1, 2021 due to the global health crisis of the disease COVID-19, which has already left hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of diagnosed cases around the planet.
The ‘Bureau International des Expositions’ (BIE) has expressed its opinion on the delay of the appointment requested in view of the coronavirus pandemic and the vote determined to bring the global conclave to October 1st next year. Although the dates have yet to be definitively ratified.
On Monday, the EIB reported that the required two thirds of the 171-member states of the body to endorse decisions finally agreed to approve the delay in the schedule given the health emergency installed by the spread of the coronavirus. The Bureau's Executive Committee had already expressed its support for the postponement in April, and now the member countries of the entity have also expressed their support for this determination to postpone the meeting.
The decision was awaited with uncertainty, as for Expo Dubai 2020, which was scheduled to take place between 20 October this year and 10 April next, a lot of money and effort had been invested by the host, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and in particular by Dubai.
In 2014, the emirate won the right to organize the Universal Exposition and the positive news was a big economic and social boost. There was a huge activation of the Dubai property market and a large influx of tourists was scheduled to arrive in the city and the emirate itself. It was estimated that some 25 million visitors would come to the Dubai Expo. All this with an estimated income for various concepts of about 30,000 million euros.
Now, the pandemic has endangered world tourism and caused further panic in a property market that has already shrunk by a third since the 2014 announcement. But confidence is expected to return next year when the Expo finally takes place.
In this way, Expo Dubai, which has the motto 'Connecting minds, creating the future' will start on October 1st, 2021 and will end on March 31st, 2022, pending final confirmation of the dates, which seems very likely; maintaining the primary objective of the world fair, which is to work together among all nations to build a better future, based on the latest advances, new technologies, respect for the environment and cooperation of all humanity.
This is not the first time in history that changes have taken place at a World Expo. In 1937, the Paris World Expo opened several months late, while the Haiti Expo of 1949 also had to wait several months to open its international part. The 1942 Rome Expo was suspended even though a pavilion dedicated entirely to Benito Mussolini had already been built. The Brussels edition of 1958 was also changed and the Philadelphia edition of 1976 was cancelled, while Moscow ceded the 1967 edition to Montreal and Chicago ceded the 1992 edition to Seville.
