What’s It Like to Visit #Dubai Now? Covid Comfort as Expo Arrives - Bloomberg

What’s It Like to Visit Dubai Now? Covid Comfort as Expo Arrives - Bloomberg

High angle views of urban skyline and skyscrapers at sunset in Dubai UAE. 

Photographer: Lu ShaoJi/Moment RF

The buzz around lunch time in Dubai’s financial center paints a clear picture of how the city’s dealing with the coronavirus pandemic: Business people are back in full swing, many restaurants have to be booked in advance, and luxury sports cars swarm the entrances of the area’s five-star hotels. It’s a far cry from last year’s empty parking lots and deserted office spaces.

If there is such a thing as pre-pandemic normalcy in 2021, Dubai is keen to display it. International tourism resumed more than a year ago, and the city has relatively lenient rules to combat the spread of Covid-19. That’s thanks to the fact that the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, is one of the world’s most vaccinated nations. According to Bloomberg’s Vaccine Tracker, around 75% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.

Now, it is opening up to millions of visitors for the World Expo, which will take place in the outskirts of the city from Oct. 1 through March 31. The exhibition was delayed for a year due to the pandemic; Dubai anticipates it to attract 25 million visits, both virtually and in person.

The number is less eye-popping considering the scale of the Expo. The site is as large as 600 hundred football stadiums, filled with architectural spectacles from around 190 countries. The UAE’s is designed by Santiago Calatrava and will be shaped like a falcon in flight; the Canadian pavilion is a towering ring made of wood lattice with a “360 degree theater” at its center; and the Netherlands has built a cone-shaped vertical farm.