Dubai’s magnificent international expo will close its doors

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (UAE) – On Thursday, Dubai will say goodbye to its lavish Expo 2020 global exhibition, leaving a multibillion-dollar mini-city in the desert and raising expectations for future hosts.

Six months after the $7 billion, purpose-built site’s delayed launch, the Middle East commercial centre will close its doors with performances by Christina Aguilera and DJ Tiesto, as well as pyrotechnics that will last until 3:00 a.m. local time.

Despite the ongoing epidemic, millions of people have rushed to Expo in its last days, boosting visit counts above 23 million — not far off the 25 million objective — and making it difficult to hire a cab anywhere in the city.

Long lines have developed at the most popular attractions, including the falcon-themed United Arab Emirates pavilion and the Saudi Arabia structure, a slanted slab that looks to float in the air, amid the 30 degree Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) heat.

The Expo, which takes place on a circular plot twice the size of Monaco, has been a source of pride for Dubai’s monarchical rulers and is one of a series of initiatives aimed at attracting international attention.

The world’s tallest structure, the 830-meter (2,723-foot) Burj Khalifa, is located in Dubai, the commercial capital of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates.

It built a Museum of the Future in February, shaped like a silver elliptical with Arabic calligraphy and billed as “the most beautiful structure on earth” by its promoters.

Expo, which began with the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and has since displayed technologies such as the telephone and microwave, is now moving to Osaka, Japan, where the next edition will be held on a man-made island in 2025.

According to the UAE’s The National newspaper, Dimitri Kerkentzes, secretary-general of the Bureau International des Expositions, “it’s evident that we have established a new benchmark here — it’s something I feel (Osaka) will try to aspire to.”

The event got off to a shaky start, with a year-long pandemic delay and a boycott call from the European Parliament, which slammed the UAE’s human rights record and “inhumane” treatment of migrant workers.

Officials eventually admitted that three employees died and more than 70 were seriously injured while working on Expo, asserting that safety measures were “world-class.”

Sports stars Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Novak Djokovic, as well as Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler and crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the leaders of France, Brazil, Turkey, and Morocco, were among those who paid a visit.

With its canopied paths and speakers playing calming music, the site is now envisioned as a car-free “15-minute metropolis,” with all portions accessible within a quarter-hour by foot or bicycle.

The self-powered ‘Sustainability’ pavilion and a massive water feature that provides the sense of water pouring upwards will be among the constructions that will stay.

The Expo site, which will be known as District 2020, is seeking to recruit high-tech and digital enterprises in order to become a centre for innovation.

“Hosting an Expo was never an investment,” Reem Al Hashimy, the show’s director-general, told AFP in September.

“It was an investment to build a new metropolis that is halfway between Dubai and Abu Dhabi (UAE’s capital) and is really the city of the future.”

“That money will be invested in a city until 2040, 2050, and beyond.”