Dubai's Expo 2020 should be postponed to next year over the new coronavirus pandemic, local organizers recommended Monday, pushing back a world's fair that the sheikhdom has bet billions of dollars on to rejuvenate its troubled economy.
The ultimate decision over the event will be made by Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions, which had awarded the fair to this skyscraper-studded city in 2014. That helped boost Dubai's crucial real-estate market and had officials hoping for more tourists in this city-state that is home to the world's busiest airport for international travel.
Now, the pandemic has grounded flights by Dubai's long-haul carrier Emirates, jeopardized global tourism and caused further panic in a real-estate market already down by a third since the 2014 announcement.