More than 400,000 visits to Expo 2020 Dubai in first ten days

Expo 2020 Dubai has recorded 411,768 visits to the world’s biggest cultural gathering in the first 10 days, organizers have said.

The Expo – the first to be held in the Middle East – officially opened its doors on October 1, with more than 25 million visits to the site expected during the six-month extravaganza.

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Organizers say more than 175 nationalities have visited the Expo so far, not far off the 192 countries that are participating in the event, while one in three of the visits are made up of international visitors.

This recorded number of ticketed visits excludes delegations, guests of international participants, partners and other stakeholders, as well as Expo staff.

Visitor numbers are expected to increase as the United Arab Emirate’s peak tourism season gets under way and more countries reopen to international travel, the event’s communications chief said.

“Despite the hot temperatures, we have had fantastic attendance. If you look at other Expos, it tends to start slowly,” said Sconaid McGeachin, senior vice president for communications at Expo 2020 Dubai.

“This is a six-month event, so we are not expecting to achieve all the figures in week one.”

“As we get into the nicer weather, we expect the visits to increase still further. Every day is unique. There is always something new for people to come back and see more,” she said.

“(It is) quite a remarkable achievement, considering we’ve yet to see our full international routes open up, we’re not yet into our peak tourism season for Dubai, we usually see it increase in late October when we have the half term break for many countries, going into the Christmas period.”

As for the opening night, McGeachin said three million people watched the ceremony virtually.

Five million also “visited” the event virtually during the first ten days.

Over 182 days, more than 200 participants – including nations, multilateral organizations, businesses, and educational institutions, as well as millions of visitors – aim to come together to create the largest and most diverse World Expo ever.

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