Dubai, UAE (WNEWS) – Held every five years, expos see hundreds of nations using pavilions to show off the latest in architecture and technology.

Before the pandemic forced the event to be postponed, organizers had anticipated 25 million visits during the course of the six-month fair. It will now run from 1 October to 31 March 2022.

However, despite restrictions on travel, and the current lockdowns in certain parts of Europe, Reem Al Hashimy, managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020, states they are holding on to the pre-pandemic target.

“The planet has gone through those galactical shifts throughout the previous year but today with vaccines being rollout, we feel that situation will settle by October. We believe the situation will be a lot more optimistic by then.”

It is an optimistic forecast for a function that is based on tourism when a lot of the world has cut down on international travel. But the many in-person conventions and trade shows held in the city during the last couple of months are becoming organizers more optimistic.

Organizers are also anticipating the vaccination rates to gather pace internationally through the summer – which would give individuals the confidence to begin making international trips again.

Dubai Expo has been billed as the largest event to be held in the Arab world. For the UAE, the showpiece event comes at a time when it is trying to recover from one of its worst recessions in five decades.

This past year, the economy contracted by 6.6percent as the government announced a series of reforms to attract investment and aid businesses. A few of those measures have started to show results together with the International Monetary Fund upgrading the growth outlook for the UAE to 3.1percent for 2021.

The authorities are pinning their hopes on the World Expo to attract tourists in large {numbers|amounts} that would help hasten economic recovery. Billions of dollars have been poured into the project since the UAE won the bid to arrange the international fair in 2013.

The spectacle is particularly crucial for the Middle East’s financial hub – Dubai – because its economical model relies heavily on sectors that are driven by consumer spending, like hospitality, luxury retail and travel.

While most experts think that it might be challenging to reach 25 million visits, there’s a broad consensus that millions will attend the event, which could have a significant impact on the economy.

“Even when the event is partially successful it has the potential of reviving the economy and taking it back to the pre-pandemic levels,” says Scott Livermore, chief economist for the Middle East in Oxford Economics.

More than 190 countries will participate in the Expo – embracing innovations around the themes of sustainability, mobility and opportunity.

In February, the Tokyo Olympics committee announced that they would proceed with the event in July regardless of the how Covid-19 situation evolves. Much like the Japanese, the Dubai Expo organizers also don’t have any plans of postponing or cancelling the event.

‘We are employing all the essential safety measures as mandated by the WHO and following other best practices to permit the event to take place in a safe environment’ says Ms Al Hashimy.

She adds that there is a need for people to converge to go over the upcoming actions to tackle global challenges such as the Covid-19 pandemic, along with the Expo provides that platform.

Dubai is renowned for being home to the tallest building on the planet and its white-sand beaches. It has transformed itself from a desert backwater port into a flourishing financial and tourism hub in a generation. However, the World Expo is the most ambitious project for the country. The event is also at the heart of UAE’s strategies for diversifying its economy – off from petroleum.

Dubai has also been among the few cities to maintain its economy open since July last year when almost all of the planet was under lockdown.

Covid-19 cases remained low throughout the second half of 2020 but daily infections in the nation quadrupled to nearly 4,000 per day near the end of January this year, mostly due to the influx of vacationers to Dubai during the winter holiday season.

The infection rate has dropped since then after authorities tightened restrictions at indoor venues but steered away from imposing a lockdown. To prevent another wave, fresh restrictions have been issued for Ramadan that begins next week – a month during which Muslims fast from dawn to dusk.

Despite the recent wave, the UAE has managed to roll the vaccines out at a rapid pace, with more than 62% of the population inoculated. It ranks second globally behind Israel for dosages administered per 100 people.

The UAE intends to be one of the first nations to vaccinate the majority of its population and return to complete normalcy. This would also assist in positioning it as a safe tourist destination.

‘In the event, the UAE is able to achieve herd immunity then that would be a large positive for the Expo as it would have the ability to attract many more tourists, particularly during the second half of the occasion” says Mr. Livermore.