Expected to host a myriad of international events in the next few years, including the 2029 Asian Winter Games and the 2030 FIFA World Cup, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will be adding another anticipated moment to its already busy calendar: Expo 2030.
The news, which broke out this week, was announced after the Gulf State beat out Italy and South Korea for the right to host the Expo, outbidding its rivals by quite a landslide. In total, Riyadh managed to secure 119 votes out of 182, enlisting Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for the country’s Al-Nassr football club, to convince members in a video projected before the vote, and leaving Rome and Busan to settle with far more disappointing scores.
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“On behalf of the BIE, I offer my warm congratulations to Saudi Arabia on its election as host country of World Expo 2030. In the coming years, we look forward to working closely with Saudi Arabia to bring the world together in Riyadh,” said Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), Dimitri S. Kerkentzes, following the announcement.
The forthcoming gathering will take place from October 2030 to March 2031 under the theme “A Different Tomorrow,” a reflection of the journey the Kingdom has embarked on. Since the launch of Crown Prince Bin Salman’s Vision 2030— a series of political, economic, and cultural policies that seek to position Saudi Arabia as a progressive and globally influential nation by the next decade— the appointment of Expo 2030 will serve as another symbolic milestone aligning with the ambitious slate of goals to reach in the next seven years.
Landing in our region for the second time after the United Arab Emirates played host to their own iteration of the event in the wake of the pandemic in 2021, back then, the 2020 Expo Dubai had managed to surpass everyone’s expectations by recording more than 24 million visits in six months.
