Comment: Ready, Steady, Expo
The announcement last week that Dubai had been successful in its bid to host Expo 2020 was a cause of widespread celebration, as years of hard work and dedication finally paid off.
Now, with the Expo coming to the Middle East for the first time in its history, the hard work must really begin as the city attempts to live up to expectations of a event that even Dubai ruler HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has declared will "undoubtedly stand out as the best edition in the history of the event in terms of preparation and presentation".
This however, will be no easy feat. In it’s more than 100 year history the World Expo has seen the unveiling of an array of world changing inventions including the typewriter, the telephone and even electricity.
What then, will Dubai be able to show to the world that hasn’t been seen before, something that will wow the crowds with delight and amazement? Well to me that part is obvious: its hotels.
Dubai’s hotel industry now has the opportunity to not only become world leaders in hospitality, but to demonstrate its quality to the world as, according to Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), more than 25 million visitors descend on Dubai between October 2020 and April 2021.
This is certainly a view shared by Jumeirah Group president and group CEO Gerald Lawless who, speaking after the result was announced, declared that: “It is expected that around 20 million tourists will visit Dubai in 2020, up from 11 million in 2013. By then Jumeirah will have extended its presence to more global destinations, as well as having strengthened its portfolio of hotels in the United Arab Emirates.”
Also getting excited was Guido de Wilde, senior vice president, regional director, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Middle East who said that: “Starwood firmly believes in the future of Dubai and the potential that lies ahead for the UAE and the region. The World Expo 2020 will help continue to highlight Dubai as one of the most highly sought-after travel destinations for business and leisure anywhere in the world, reinforcing to a global audience the huge opportunities that are available in the Emirate now and in the future.”
Finally Conrad Dubai director of business development Sanjay Nair added: “Expo 2020 is a truly global platform that will inevitably increase both business and inward investment into Dubai, creating an opportunity to showcase the city’s strengths. The hospitality industry will be reinforced by the growth of business and leisure travel and we very much look forward to it.”
However, to meet the needs of this tourist boom — 70% of which will come from outside of the UAE — DTCM expects to have to double Dubai’s hotel inventory to around 164,000 hotel and hotel apartment rooms within the next seven years.
Authorities in Dubai are also expected to invest AED 30bn ($8.1bn) in new infrastructure ahead of the Expo.
Although, while those costs may sound high, that’s nothing compared to the potential windfall in store for the city, as research from Bank of America Merrill Lynch revealed that Dubai can expect the events impact to contribute to 24.4% of GDP spread over the period 2015 to 2021, amounting to somewhere in the region of AED 84.5bn ($23bn).
The event would also create more than 277,000 jobs in the Gulf emirate, 40% of which would be in the hospitality sector and 30% in construction.
The benefits therefore are very clear. If Dubai’s hospitality market can continue to raise standards for design, service excellence and F&B, then Expo 2020 can become the perfect showcase for one of the shining lights of the hospitality industry, as more hotels, more jobs and most importantly more guests continue to flood into the city.