While Expo 2020 Dubai has been a part of Dubai life and UAE conversations since the city won the rights to host the event in November 2013, getting the word out internationally is equally important and that is already underway.
As Expo 2020 Dubai approached one year to the opening of the event on October 20, 2020, a senior executive has revealed which international markets are initially proving popular with ticket sales, as the event ramps up its marketing drive as part of its goal to achieve 25 million visits over the course of the six months it will be open.
“I mean what’s happening right now is that there is a natural affinity in some markets. Markets which are familiar with the Expo tend to move faster and markets which have long lead times for holiday planning move faster,” Sanjive Khosla, chief commercial officer at Expo 2020 Dubai, told Arabian Business in an interview.
“So, typically your Australasia, Germany, Japan, Asia, they are moving faster right now. You’re also seeing European markets moving faster because they have more familiarity with Expo. You know some of the bigger markets, such as India, KSA, because it’s so close, will probably move a little later.”
Sanjive Khosla, chief commercial officer at Expo 2020 Dubai
In order to attract international corporations and executives, the Expo team also has in place an incentive program and dedicated packages for international tour operators, focused around different themes, Khosla added.
“There’s tour operators who actually specialise on corporate incentives. We’re working with them to target corporate incentive groups and what we’ve done is we’ve designed specialised journeys. So, let’s say you’re an engineering firm and you’re interested in the architecture journey, maybe you’re into energy, and you want to see the sustainability journey and so on and so forth.
“We’ve designed a whole bunch of journeys which are there. Some of these journeys, of course, are fairly technical in nature but there are also some which are fun, such as an art and cultural one, there’s a gastronomy one,” he said.
Visitor targets
Khosla and his team have been set a target to achieve 25 million visits throughout the six-month run starting October 20, 2020. The target consists of around 15 million unique visitors, with around 70 percent – or about 11 million – coming from overseas and the remaining consisting of four million local residents coming multiple times.
In order to achieve this target, the marketing campaign is already well underway. The first big awareness drive was the ‘Welcome to the Future’ video campaign starring Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and this week American rapper, producer and creative innovator will.i.am lent his voice to a new promotional video called ‘Be There’, a fast-paced cinematic montage that recounts numerous invention milestones in history, such as the discovery of gravity, the construction of the pyramids and mastering aircraft flight and suggests how Expo 2020 plans to add to this impressive global lineage.
A big awareness drive, including a free concert starring American singer Mariah Carey, will start next week week and will focus on the one year to go to the opening of the event. Khosla states that the next major campaign will be launched in March next year, around the tagline of the ‘The World’s Greatest Show’, which will coincide with when prices for special tickets – including seasonal passes and monthly passes – will be revealed and go on sale.
While Expo 2020 Dubai has been a part of Dubai life and UAE conversations since the city won the rights to host the event in November 2013, getting the word out internationally is equally important and that is already underway.
“In terms of especially the international market, we’ve been working with ticket resellers for quite a while right now and we’ve already signed up a number of ticket resellers. We’re already starting to bundle up tickets with tourist packages. Our target is to sign up 400 international ticket resellers and we are well on course to do that,” Khosla said.
Expo 2020 Dubai will run from October 20, 2020 until April 10, 2021. In April a report by global consultancy firm EY forecast that Expo 2020 Dubai will boost the UAE economy by AED122.6bn ($33.4bn) and support 905,200 job-years between 2013 and 2031
During the peak six-month period of the World Expo, the largest event to be held in the Arab World is predicted to add the equivalent of 1.5 percent to the UAE gross domestic product.
Najeeb Mohammed Al-Ali, executive director of the Dubai Expo 2020 Bureau, said: “This independent report demonstrates that Expo 2020 Dubai is a critical long-term investment in the future of the UAE, which will contribute more than 120 billion dirhams to the economy between 2013 and 2031.
Video: Expo 2020 Dubai – business benefits for participating countries
“Not only will the event encourage millions around the world to visit the UAE in 2020, it will also stimulate travel and tourism and support economic diversification for years after the Expo, leaving a sustainable economic legacy that will help to ensure the UAE remains a leading destination for business, leisure and investment.”
The report added that small and medium enterprises, a core component of the UAE economy, will receive AED4.7 billion in investment during the pre-Expo phase, supporting 12,600 job-years.
