UAE city Dubai is gearing up to host the World Expo - a year after it was originally supposed to be held.
Held every five years, expos see hundreds of countries using pavilions to show off the latest in architecture and technology.
Before the pandemic forced the event to be postponed, organisers had expected 25 million visits during the course of the six-month international fair. It will now run from October 1 to 31 March 2022.
However, despite restrictions on travel, and the recent lockdowns in some parts of Europe, Reem Al Hashimy, managing director of the Dubai Expo 2020, says they are holding on to the pre-pandemic target.
"The world has gone through these galactical shifts over the last year but now with vaccines being rollout, we believe that situation will settle by October. We believe the situation will be far more positive by then."
It is an optimistic forecast for an event that relies on tourism, when most of the world has cutdown on international travel. But the various in-person conferences and trade shows held in the city over the last few months has made organisers more hopeful.
(BBC)
