Country pavilions at Expo 2020 Dubai will open for an extra hour for the remaining days of the mega event as visitor numbers approach 16 million.
The Steering Committee of the College of Commissioner Generals of Expo 2020 Dubai has endorsed a move to extend pavilion opening hours to 11pm, giving visitors more time to enjoy the attractions on offer across the site during its final month.
The move comes as Expo sees the Food, Agricultural & Livelihoods Week, the reactivation of Dubai school visits, a surge in repeat visitors and an influx of international tourists, a statement said.
Organisers revealed that half of visits in February were repeat visits and the penultimate month of Expo 2020 Dubai attracted a record 4.4 million visits, the highest monthly figure since the event opened on October 1 last year.
Expo 2020 Dubai has also launched a special edition white passport – a bespoke “thank you” to all visitors who have 100 or more stamps on their yellow passports.
So far, Expo has hosted more than 13,000 heads of state, presidents, prime ministers and ministers, including presidential visits this month from Tanzania, Cyprus, Uruguay, South Sudan, Turkey, and Kenya.
In February, a buzz of excitement filled the Expo site with the visit of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, who addressed the first Earthshot Prize Innovation Showcase, and met Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of The Dubai Executive Council.
Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation and director general of Expo 2020 Dubai.
Reem Al Hashimy, UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation and director general, Expo 2020 Dubai, said: “The first World Expo in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region has restored hope to the global community and helped to generate a renewed sense of commitment to the event’s core themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity.
“With over 28,000 events staged in the last five months, we have achieved more than we could have ever dreamed, but there is still much more to come and we encourage visitors to take this opportunity to embrace this unique chance to witness first hand everything Expo 2020 Dubai has to offer, before the gates close for the final time this month.”
With 28,397 events organised across the site since October, Expo 2020 Dubai’s virtual visitation numbers have crossed 150 million, she added.
The Expo site is around four times the size of Dubai Mall and equivalent to 613 football pitches.
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