With Dubai winning the World Expo 2020 bid, the emirate will need approximately $43 billion to significantly upgrade its infrastructure according to a research report by Deutsche Bank.

This spending, estimated to be equivalent to about 47 per cent of Dubai’s 2013 budget, will boost employment, population and tourist growth, the report said.

A bulk of this investment will go into expanding the hotel and leisure industry, while around $10 billion will be spent to improve transportation infrastructure.

The biggest beneficiary should be the real estate sector, which has to cater to the increased demand for new hotel and infrastructure projects, the report said.

It continues to see positive momentum in the Dubai property market, triggered by attractive yields and property prices close to historical average. With the Expo win, the sector should continue to attract strong investor interest, it said.

Dubai property prices are currently up around 50 percent since the third quarter 2011 but still 45 percent below the peak of 2008 and close to the average price of the last eight years. Compared with other major cities in the world, Dubai offers attractive property prices and rental yields and a low tax environment. Moreover, the emirate’s “safe-haven” status, strategic location and growing tourism sector continue to attract investor interest, the report said.


The Al Maktoum International Airport, the newly developed airport near the Expo site, started passenger operations on October 27. When fully complete, the airport will be able to handle 12 million tonnes of cargo and 160 million passengers annually, making it the largest international airport by some margin. Besides this, Dubai has also initiated an expansion plan for its existing Dubai International Airport to increase its existing capacity from 60 million to 90 million passengers per year by 2018. Winning the Expo can further facilitate the “Dubai Vision” target of handling 20 million tourist arrivals by 2020, the Deutsche Bank report said.
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Increased tourist arrivals and an upbeat business climate are positives for the hotel and leisure industry as well as the retail sector. About 25 million visitors are expected for the World Expo 2020 event, 71per cent of which will be non-domestic visitors. – TradeArabia News Service