As Expo 2020 Dubai rolls into its fourth day, the six-month event has already attracted the attention of travellers around the world.
Searches for flights to Dubai during Expo 2020 increased in the lead up to the grand opening of “the world’s greatest show”.
“We have seen a huge demand for searches for flights, as searches from abroad to the Emirates increased 330 per cent in the last two weeks of September,” said Mamoun Hmedan, managing director for Middle East and India at Wego.
The online travel company found that flight searches for travel to Dubai during the Expo 2020 period had surpassed searches for flights to Dubai from the same period in 2019, before the global pandemic and its devastating impact on air travel.
“Through our platform, we have also seen an increase in searches for flights for the Expo 2020 period, reaching around 365,000 a week prior to the launch date and an increase of more than 1,000 per cent compared to August.
“It exceeds 50 per cent of the number of searches in the same period in 2019, and this indicates the growing demand for flights to Dubai,” said Hmedan.
Dubai Tourism has said that it expects Expo 2020 Dubai to host more than 25 million local and foreign visitors in its six-month run time.
Travellers who are thinking about taking a trip to Dubai for the event, which runs until March 31, will be pleased to learn that despite a rising interest in flights, airfares remain relatively level.
“We noticed only a slight airfare increase of 3 per cent compared to the same period in 2020, due to the increase in supply and the resumptions of more flights to and from Dubai,” said Hmedan.
Similarly, the travel company said it had not yet tracked any noticeable changes in hotel prices in Dubai in September, compared to August. However, this could change as the UAE rolls into winter.
“There are signs that hotel prices will rise by less than 10 per cent with the approach of winter and the start of the tourism season in the Emirates,” said Hmedan.
Travellers planning a trip to the UAE during the event period can get free tickets to Expo 2020 Dubai when flying with Emirates, Etihad or flydubai. Some hotel groups, including Emaar's Address Hotels and Resorts, are also offering free passes to Expo 2020 Dubai to people booking stays in the next six months.
India and Saudi Arabia lead flight searches
Additional flight search data from Wego shows that people in India are among the most interested in flying to Dubai during the Expo 2020 period. A total of 28 per cent of flight searches originated in the subcontinent.
Saudi Arabia was the second-most interested nation, with 18 per cent of flight search traffic from across the Middle East and North Africa coming from the kingdom.
It seems that a visit to Expo 2020 Dubai is not simply a one or two-day trip, either. Wego found that travellers planning to book flights to head to Dubai during Expo 2020 are coming for longer stays. “The average duration was for trips of 23 days,” said Hmedan.
The majority of searches tracked by the travel company appeared to be for individual flight bookings, which made up 73 per cent of the search traffic.
Pairs of tickets and group bookings accounted for 14 per cent and 13 per cent of searches, respectively.
However, this does not necessarily mean there will be an influx of solo travellers to Dubai, as people often price out coming travel based on one ticket before adding accurate traveller information for their party at a later stage of planning.
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm
Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Price: from Dh155,000
On sale: now
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
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Scorebox
Dubai Hurricanes 31 Dubai Sports City Eagles 22
Hurricanes
Tries: Finck, Powell, Jordan, Roderick, Heathcote
Cons: Tredray 2, Powell
Eagles
Tries: O’Driscoll 2, Ives
Cons: Carey 2
Pens: Carey
TUESDAY'S ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court
Starting at 2pm:
Malin Cilic (CRO) v Benoit Paire (FRA) [8]
Not before 4pm:
Dan Evans (GBR) v Fabio Fogini (ITA) [4]
Not before 7pm:
Pablo Carreno Busta (SPA) v Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) [2]
Roberto Bautista Agut (SPA) [5] v Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
Court One
Starting at 2pm
Prajnesh Gunneswaran (IND) v Dennis Novak (AUT)
Joao Sousa (POR) v Filip Krajinovic (SRB)
Not before 5pm:
Rajeev Ram (USA) and Joe Salisbury (GBR) [1] v Marin Cilic v Novak Djokovic (SRB)
Nikoloz Basilashvili v Ricardas Berankis (LTU)
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
