Why Expo 2020 Dubai’s sales chief is still smiling despite postponement

However, the opening exchanges of our Zoom video call shows that the passing of time, pandemics and postponements have done nothing to dampen her enthusiasm. “I’m still smiling, I’m still eager, I’m still excited and likewise with all our team members,” she tells Arabian Business.

Like Euro 2020, like the Tokyo Olympics, the event, billed as “The World’s Greatest Show”, was put back a year, as the world grappled, and continues to do so, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Although the outcome would have been the same, Al Bayat reveals it could well have been the Dubai Olympics that were delayed by 12 months.

She explains: “We started our bid journey in late 2011, but at that point we were looking at the Olympics versus World Expo. With the Olympics we felt that the majority of what we need, in terms of infrastructure, is either already in place or already planned so the additional investment was very minimal.

“However, anyone who has been to the Olympics or watched or followed, knows the importance of the performance of the home team to generate that sense of excitement and national pride. And so the decision was we’ll hold off on the Olympics until we give ourselves enough time to focus on grassroots sports with schools and incorporating that into the education system.

“Then with World Expo it just made sense. It’s literally what Dubai and the UAE do every single day and at the end of the day it’s bringing the world together for our collective benefit.”

The 182-day expo aims to attract 25 million visits – with more than 70 percent from outside the UAE

The biggest event in the region

Expo 2020 Dubai is to be the first World Expo held in the Middle East and North Africa and South Asian region, under the theme of “Connecting Minds Creating The Future”, and the sub-themes of Mobility, Sustainability and Opportunity. And, after the last 12 months, the idea of bringing the world together again, safely and within strict government guidelines, has arguably taken on even greater significance.

“Our focus, our mission, our objective is even more relevant today than before,” says Al Bayat. “Expo is all about people, planet and purpose and if we’ve learned anything this year it’s the importance of people, planet and purpose and the importance of us coming together and that human solidarity that we saw very strongly this year.”

Al Bayat admits she was “in denial” back in April as the decision was sought by member countries of the World Expo governing body Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to postpone the event in light of the global pandemic.

But just like seven years ago, when the overwhelming majority voted in favour of Dubai staging the Expo, the show of solidarity was immense – the host received the necessary votes to move to 2021 within a matter of days.

The six-month event will now start on October 1, 2021, but it will still be known as Expo 2020 and projected visitor numbers remain the same, despite heightened health and safety regulations as a result of the pandemic.

It had been feared that the audience for the event, which was initially forecast to attract in the region of 25 million visits over its duration, would be scaled down because of social distancing restrictions designed to curb the spread of the virus.

However, Al Bayat says the targets for visitor numbers remain the same.

The USA Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai

She says: “As of right now, we are not changing our projections, we are not changing our numbers. We are still working towards them, but we are keeping a close eye to see if we need to change. We’re still about ten months away and a lot can happen in a month’s time, let alone ten months’ time.

“We’re lucky in the sense that our site is big enough that we don’t necessarily have that problem, but we’re constantly doing simulations and checks to make sure, whether it’s looking at visitation numbers, whether it’s looking at how many people per hour can we let in with proper distancing; should that number be exceeded, how can we put in the measures.”

Al Bayat adds they are in close contact with authorities in Dubai, including Emirates Airline, Dubai Tourism and Dubai Airports.

“What we’re doing is we’re monitoring,” she says. “If you look at Emirates Airline alone, March 25 was when Emirates announced that flights were going to be suspended, to where we are now and the number of destinations that Emirates is flying to; there’s continuous progress.”

Despite the ongoing Covid-inspired health and economic crisis, Al Bayat reveals that the construction of all Expo-related assets, including the iconic Al Wasl Plaza and associated pavilions, were complete at the end of 2019.

While all 190 countries signed up to take part in the six-month World Expo are also progressing their respective pavilions positively.

“Obviously we’re working very closely with the countries to make sure their pavilions are also ready,” she says. “Different countries are going through different phases in terms of Covid and its impact, but we have regular meetings with them and even from a country perspective several countries have completed or are on the verge of completing their pavilions.”

And that includes adding to the digital element of the event, helping it reach an even greater audience around the world.Al Bayat says: “So far we’ve been blessed with amazing commitment. I would say the only change is they’re actually re-looking at how their experience is going to be. A lot of them are adding a digital component, a virtual component to compliment and augment their physical experience.”

Pre-Covid it was announced that Expo 2020 Dubai would boost the emirate’s economy by $33.4bn

Economic benefits

Pre-Covid it was announced that Expo 2020 Dubai would boost the emirate’s economy by $33.4bn and support 905,200 job-years between 2013 and 2031, according to an independent report published by global consultancy EY.

During the peak six-month period of the World Expo, the largest event to be held in the Arab world, was predicted to add the equivalent of 1.5 percent to UAE GDP.

While the economic boost will be well received, as the country continues to recover from the effects of coronavirus, Al Bayat says it will also be a perfect opportunity to showcase the emirate and the wider country.

She says: “Yes we’ve seen what human beings can do in dire circumstances and we’ve seen that you can’t do it on your own and you really need everyone to come together, but that call to action is stronger today than it ever was and I think the hope, the plan, the ambition, is for this Expo to bring the policy makers together with the innovators, together with the future leaders, to create that blueprint that we then just have to make sure we keep pushing forward.”  

All systems go for Expo 2020

The chief development and delivery officer for Expo 2020 Dubai, Ahmed Al Khatib, has confirmed that plans are ‘on track’ to welcome the world to the largest event ever to be held in the Middle East region on October 1 this year.

Manal Al Bayat, chief sales and marcomms officer at Expo 2020 Dubai (left), with Ahmed Al Khatib, chief development and delivery officer for Expo 2020 Dubai

Speaking at the Big 5 Digital Festival last month, he said: “All permanent Expo constructions were completed at the end of 2019. And since then, we have been working on fine tuning and closing the main buildings and the main structures, the internal fit-out, and exhibitions of the building.“The three thematic districts (Opportunity, Sustainability and Mobility) were completed by June 2019. The heart of the Expo, the iconic centrepiece of the Expo site, Al Wasl Plaza, was crowned in September 2019, and the grand opening of Al Wasl Plaza was done by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in January 2020.”

Earlier last year, the carbon-fibre entry portals, designed by Asif Khan, were also installed at the Expo site.As reported by our sister title, Construction Week, Al Khatib noted that to-date, the team at Expo 2020 Dubai has recorded 210 million work-hours.

“We continue to work closely with the participants, as many of their pavilions have marked completion. These include Egypt, the US, Norway, Austria, Finland, and they are working now on the internal exhibitions and the fit-out,” he said.