It’s the news you’ve all been anticipating…

Expo 2020 Dubai has announced that a request has been made to postpone the event for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic. There’s been plenty of speculation recently as to what the event organisers would decide regarding the six-month event, which was due to kick off on October 20, 2020.

In a Tweet, Expo 2020 said: “We support the proposal to explore a one-year postponement at today’s Steering Committee meeting. We will follow due processes with Expo’s governing body, @BIEParis, on making the decision to delay, which requires a two-thirds majority vote from the BIE General Assembly.”

On April 4, the UAE submitted a proposal to Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) to push the start date of the event to October 1, 2021, finishing on March 31, 2022. The BIE will make the decision on April 21, 2020, with a committee of delegates from 12 elected Member States.

The news follows the postponement of several major events including the Tokyo Olympics and UEFA European Football Championship, which will both now take place in 2021.

Expo 2020 Dubai will be a six-month exhibition featuring pavilions from 192 countries, which thousands of people have working hard on the build in the lead up to the launch. The request for a one-year delay came from the participants, to give them a chance to overcome the challenges of Covid-19.

The event is expected to have more than 11 million overseas visitors over the six-month period. This signifies the importance of making sure the current temporary travel restrictions have been lifted before the launch, and that it is safe for people to travel again.

Once launched, visitors from the UAE and all over the world will be able to travel to the official site in Dubai. The Expo site, which will have its own public transport links, will be home to almost 200 pavilions, focused on sustainability, opportunity and mobility.

The ticket prices for Dubai’s Expo will be available in a one-day, three-day, monthly, or season pass. An adult (18 and over) single day ticket will be charged at Dhs120, while a three-day pass will cost Dhs260 and can be used on any three days of the six-month expo.