Expo 2020 is a World Expo to be hosted by Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It was originally scheduled to open on October 20, 2020, and end 6 months later, on April 10, 2021. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s been postponed to 2021.
The director general of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Helal Al Marri, recently told Bloomberg TV that Dubai would likely open to tourists again at the beginning of July. However that date is not set in stone, and international travel in 2020 is still going to be “iffy” at best.
Therefore, at a meeting of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), two-thirds of the Member States voted in favor of postponing the event for one year. Therefore Expo 2020 has now been rescheduled to 2021.
It will open on October 21, 2021 and end on March 31, 2022.
This is not the first, and probably won’t be the last large event that is being postponed, or even canceled because of coronavirus. The Tokyo Olympics, Cannes Film Festival and UEFA European Football Championship have all been postponed. Meanwhile, other annual events such as NYC Pride March, San Diego Comic-Con and Edinburgh Summer Festivals have all been canceled for this year.
World Expos have been running since the late 19th century. Held in different cities in different years, they generally stick to a wide universal theme that applies to all humanity. Expo 2020’s theme is set to be “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.” The expo will also have three subthemes: opportunity, mobility and sustainability – each theme will have its own pavilion and, as is the case for all expos, multiple other countries (in this case, 139) will be involved. There’s more info about the event on the expo’s website.
Joe and I went to Expo 2005, in Aichi Japan. Themed “Nature’s Wisdom,” with national and corporate pavilions that expressed themes of ecological co-existence, renewable technology, and the wonders of nature. We went for 2 days and managed to see almost everything, even though it was crowded. And I mean CROWDED. If you’d like to read about that experience, albeit in the 2005 version of Sharon, click here for Day 1 and here for Day 2 (sorry for the photos all watermarked PHOTOBUCKET…it’s an old blog LOL).
*** Feature Photo: Expo 2020
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
