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Overview
This is an exciting time to be in Dubai as an expat, a student or a tourist. The hospitality and tourism sectors are all buoyed up in preparation for Expo 2020, which will open its gates in October 2020. Every major hotel brand has set up shop in Dubai over the past decade, and according to the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai, the city hosts more than a 100 five-star hotels, and the room inventory is set to reach 132,000 by the end of 2019 (Sadaqat, 2018). With occupancy levels expected to remain at a healthy 76 per cent to 78 per cent despite added capacity, it may be inferred that the city is gaining traction in attracting more overnight visitors, in line with its objective of reaching 20 million tourists by 2020.
What has been working in Dubai’s favour is its geographical location coupled with the pragmatic pro-business environment that has created a bustling hub of over three million residents from over 200 countries. With over 15 million overnight visitors having an average per capita spending power of USD537 per day, Dubai tops MasterCard’s list of destinations of high-spending stays (Talty, 2018). With Expo 2020, these figures are forecast to see a further upswing, as trade and innovation benefits that accrue to a host city as a result of a mega business event such as the Expo are multifaceted and numerous (Jago et al., 2010). However, to maintain the growth momentum post the event will be the real challenge for which Dubai has to gear up.
This theme issue is timely, as it is relevant for the stakeholder community with research insights that can inform decision-making at the macro and micro levels. The diverse profiles of the authors of the selected papers allow for issues to be researched and analysed from multiple perspectives. All the contributing authors are or were based in Dubai and find representation as much in academia as in industry. The following section provides a synopsis of the contributions to “bring it all together” into a storyline.
Synopsis
The introductory article “The pre and post event planning roadmap for Expo 2020: Dubai’s coming out party” provides a backdrop to the context of the theme issue in...