Expo 2020 Dubai: More ticket options coming soon

There will be more ticket options for Expo 2020 Dubai for residents and tourists.

After the details of prices for daily and three-day tickets to the event were announced earlier today, a spokesperson for the expo has confirmed that more options will follow.

Sanjive Khosla, Deputy Chief Visitor Experience Officer, Expo 2020 Dubai confirmed that additional ticket categories will be announced very soon.

Speaking on the first day of the Arabian Travel Market, Khosla confirmed that one options is "a bit like your Netflix subscription. You have one month, you can come as many times as you like in that month, and if you want to renew it afterwards then that is fine." The other option will be a season pass. Prices for both options have not yet been released.

International travellers will also be able to purchase tickets through hotel, airline or tour operator bundles that are currently being finalised. According to primary research, 80 per cent of tourists surveyed by the expo team said they would only want to visit the site on one day during a trip to the UAE and 20 per cent would be keen to visit on multiple days.

The 26 slanted architectural fins that cover the entirety of the pavilion will hold over 800 metres of LED lights. All pictures courtesy of Emirates

Ticket packages for schools, government workers, hospitality and corporate groups are also being finalised.

The rate for the daily ticket announced earlier today is Dh120, which Khosla believes offers value for money when compared to the price of other attractions.

“We have obviously bench marked ourselves against previous expos,” he explained. “We’ve looked at day-long attractions like theme parks, water parks and we believe we are very competitive against both categories.”

Children aged between five and 17 will pay half price. The reasoning behind this was to place value on the educational content set to be offered. “A lot of the content we are providing is very educational focused and we think that it is important to give the signal to the market that there is value in this for children, but it’s educational so they shouldn’t pay full price,” clarified Khosla.

Children under five years of age will enter the expo free of charge and can still enjoy many activities and attractions at the event which runs until April 2021.

“What we have will amaze people of any age. The exhibits and incredible sights, sounds and visual shows would make even a three-year-old think it is amazing. We also have play areas and places where young children can go and play — it is a very child-friendly environment.”

The season pass, monthly pass and Dh260 three-day pass that was announced earlier today are aimed at encouraging visitors to return. With 22 performance venues hosting 60 different events each day, there are numerous reasons to come back and that is without considering the size of the venue.

If you were ready to walk through the 190 pavilions there, it could easily take four days so it’s not going to be enough for you to just come one day. Recognising that, we want to make it affordable for people to come.

“The other reason people will want to return is because our site is pretty dam large,” said Khosla. “If you were ready to walk through the 190 pavilions there, it could easily take four days so it’s not going to be enough for you to just come one day. Recognising that, we want to make it affordable for people to come.”

Construction of the site is expected to finish by October this year, and the expo’s deputy chief visitor experience officer is confident this will be the case. “You can go there today and see some parts of the site that are already fully finished. From October this year, we’ll be finished with our construction and then the countries can finalise their pavilions.”

More details of what visitors will actually be buying tickets to will be revealed after summer but information about a sustainability experience project called Terra were released last week. Khosla said that Terra was created alongside "some of the biggest design agencies from Hollywood and what you are going to see inside it will blow your mind.”