# Expo 2020 Countdown



## pamela0810 (Apr 5, 2010)

One more day to go and we will know if Dubai wins the Expo 2020 Bid.

A provisional fireworks display has been planned at Burj Khalifa should Dubai be announced as the host. That is at 10:00pm.

Voting starts at 5:00pm Dubai time and the final results should be out by 9:00pm.

Good Luck Dubai!


----------



## KHALED ALMAGHRABI (Nov 26, 2013)

I hope DUBAI will win, that would be great.


----------



## earthworm88 (Jun 14, 2013)

humor of the day....

“We have nothing to hide,” insists Expo 2020 judge | The Pan-Arabia Enquirer

:eyebrows:


----------



## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

On one side it'll be good for my employer's work in Dubai, and therefore quite possibly my career.

Otherwise, I hope Dubai crashes and burns.


----------



## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

Yeah....

A lot of us struggle with the same sentiment.

The expo is massively overhyped and hardly as important as is being claimed. 

But they will throw an astonishing amount of money at it. 



Fat Bhoy Tim said:


> On one side it'll be good for my employer's work in Dubai, and therefore quite possibly my career.
> 
> Otherwise, I hope Dubai crashes and burns.


----------



## Byja (Mar 3, 2013)

5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Happy rent increase!!!


----------



## colaxs (Nov 26, 2012)

People are so caught up with the rumored AED 85 Billion spend if the Expo is awarded.

None of that money will trickle down to lowly employees like us.


----------



## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

The big issue will be managing the disappointment if Dubai does not get to host the Expo 2020.
Dubai has such a can do, winning attitude that it is not conceivable to the 2020 team that any other country could host it better.
I really hope Dubai wins the bid - as it gives a focus to aim for in the coming years. All the stalled projects will have a clear reason to restart and the Dubai economy from now until 2020 will benefit.
The Expos themselves have generally been pretty average and rarely bring the host countries fame or wealth - maybe this one will change that and galvanize this region for the good.
Cheers
Steve


----------



## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

Stevesolar said:


> The Expos themselves have generally been pretty average and rarely bring the host countries fame or wealth - maybe this one will change that and galvanize this region for the good.
> Cheers
> Steve


----------



## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

Don't know, don't care. 

I _STILL_ don't know what an Expo is supposed to entail... and I had never heard of it until Dubai was on the table. Surely nobody else (outside of the UAE) cares? 

:frusty:


----------



## Gavtek (Aug 23, 2009)

IzzyBella said:


> Don't know, don't care.
> 
> I _STILL_ don't know what an Expo is supposed to entail... and I had never heard of it until Dubai was on the table. Surely nobody else (outside of the UAE) cares?
> 
> :frusty:


From what I can tell, it's basically a tarted up Global Village.


----------



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

Gavtek said:


> From what I can tell, it's basically a tarted up Global Village.


nowadays, yes.
Historically, they were a big deal, though.

When it was the World's Fair, it was THE place to make the major technological advancements and breakthroughs of the day (Electricity / telephone etc). After WW2, it went a bit 'Cultural'


nowadays, it's all gone a bit Strictly Come Dancing / Eurovision Song Contest / 'look at our national cakes'


----------



## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

vantage said:


> nowadays, yes.
> Historically, they were a big deal, though.
> 
> When it was the World's Fair, it was THE place to make the major technological advancements and breakthroughs of the day (Electricity / telephone etc). After WW2, it went a bit 'Cultural'
> ...


So right up Dubai's alley then.


----------



## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

Mmmm cake


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Well looking at the other cities who have hosted Expo's - none were what you'd call 'major' cities, apart from Shanghai. In fact the Expo caused quite a few of them to take a nose dive financially and it did them no good at all.


----------



## Fat Bhoy Tim (Feb 28, 2013)

Chocoholic said:


> Well looking at the other cities who have hosted Expo's - none were what you'd call 'major' cities, apart from Shanghai. In fact the Expo caused quite a few of them to take a nose dive financially and it did them no good at all.


So the plan if Dubai wins is we all take off because of the rising rents, and come back when it crashes?


----------



## Robbo5265 (Oct 23, 2012)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/26/technology/getting-a-seat-at-the-global-table-for-a-price.html

I think this sums it up.


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Dubai got 77 votes in the 1st round, i think they have won it, Congratulations Dubai and hope that I get to enjoy 2020 either while living here or while visiting


----------



## w_man (Apr 16, 2010)

I think that's the first round - Brazil is out. Still more rounds to go but with 77 in the first round - looks like Dubai will take it.


----------



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

w_man said:


> I think that's the first round - Brazil is out. Still more rounds to go but with 77 in the first round - looks like Dubai will take it.


2nd round. Turks out.


----------



## saraswat (Apr 28, 2012)

Yupp, indeed Dubai did win...


----------



## Berliner (Jul 18, 2013)

Now lets hope that the 2nd of December is a holiday for the private sector as well


----------



## Kayote (Nov 12, 2013)

Dubai does it again. 

So, a longer weekend, please?


----------



## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

Tropicana said:


> hope that I get to enjoy 2020 either while living here or while visiting


Hope I get to enjoy it by not being here and forgetting about its existence


----------



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

So...
Amongst the mayhem, there's a battered Nissan belting down the Beach Road with a local youth aged about 15 standing on the roof.
Nothing unusual there, you say. They're all doing that.

They're not all brandishing two falcons, though!


----------



## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)




----------



## CDN2012 (Jun 15, 2011)

Wow, so many negative people. If you hate your time in the UAE so much, why are you there? Life is so short why waste it on doing something or living in someplace you hate. Make the most of it if you don't have a choice to leave just yet! But i suspect most of the negative people are negative no matter where they are or what they do and will always see the glass half empty. So sad. Just complain, complain and complain. 

Anyways, i'm glad Dubai won. Its not a perfect place by far, but there isn't one on the face of the earth. But i can say they are trying to improve their country a lot. We may not always agree with the way they are doing it, but no one can deny they haven't improved over the past 20-30 years.

Go Dubai!


----------



## Lamplighter (Jul 20, 2010)

IzzyBella said:


> ... forgetting about its existence


I thought your last comment was that you didn't know anything about it, so shouldn't be that tricky to forget!! 

Love how it's such a big deal here, but doesn't seem even to feature on any of the major international news sites.

eg. BBC News - Middle East
Middle East / North Africa - World News - Daily International News from the Middle East - NBCNews.com| NBC News

Guess the flyovers on SZR will be now be updated to a 7-year countdown. 


HOWEVER, congrats to UAE for bidding and winning. I guess as a resident I should be proud, and I truly hope it is a memorable time upto and including the expo (and not a burst bubble afterwards).


----------



## Lamplighter (Jul 20, 2010)

CDN2012 said:


> ... but no one can deny they haven't improved over the past 20-30 years.












1991 - guess you have a point 

Actually, I agree with you - the Expo2020 win is a reason to continue to fuel the growth impetus.

There are some really deadend places in the world. Dubai certainly isn't one of them, and perhaps the absence of history is one of the major contributors to the sh1ttiness of the attitudes amongst both locals and expats of various nationalities.

But .......... it does grind you down!!


----------



## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

How come the sycophantic begging bowl has never made it onto Snopes, given the amount of it's practitioners?


----------



## IzzyBella (Mar 11, 2013)

CDN2012 said:


> Wow, so many negative people. If you hate your time in the UAE so much, why are you there? Life is so short why waste it on doing something or living in someplace you hate. Make the most of it if you don't have a choice to leave just yet! But i suspect most of the negative people are negative no matter where they are or what they do and will always see the glass half empty. So sad. Just complain, complain and complain.
> 
> Anyways, i'm glad Dubai won. Its not a perfect place by far, but there isn't one on the face of the earth. But i can say they are trying to improve their country a lot. We may not always agree with the way they are doing it, but no one can deny they haven't improved over the past 20-30 years.
> 
> Go Dubai!


1. I don't hate living here.
2. I'm English, I like to complain.
3. I just don't really understand the whole Expo mania. As Lamplighter said: nobody else in the world seems to care (bar Russia, Turkey and Brazil)



Lamplighter said:


> I thought your last comment was that you didn't know anything about it, so shouldn't be that tricky to forget!!


Hahaha, I'm sure I won't be able to forget *NOW*! (Though, this is a good country to bury ones head in sand.)

Yet, I have this stupid idea that even though "we've" won it, I still won't have an actual clue about what it entails until it happens. It strikes me as obscure that it's not really been explained by any of the local newspapers, it's just been shoved down our throats all year. I doubt the old adage of "you have to spend money to make money" will pull through on this one. Call me cynical.


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

There's no question that the growth and achievements of Dubai and the UAE as a whole, have been nothing short of astounding in recent years and for anyone who's been here for any length of time, it's been nice to witness and be part of that. BUT, it's very often done at the detriment of others - without recognition of their imput and contribution. Plus anyone that was here in 2008 will know what a disaster that period was and can see it all happening again, because people put on their rose tinted glasses and greed takes over.

I would hope that winning Expo 2020 means that Dubai will strive to have better infrastructure (let's face it, not a lot of common sense go into much of it), generate jobs for locals and expats alike and help to continue its growth and strength - without forcing people to leave as they can no longer afford to stay here.

The things I was hearing in the run up to the result, were nothing short of plain ridiculous 'If we win, I want the week off, a 50% pay rise, better accomodation' etc etc etc - some people really do live in La La land.

Plus, I hate to say it, but on a global scale, Expo's are a non-event. Did any international media care about who won, or that it was being voted on? er nope!:rolleyes2:


----------



## tootall (Aug 5, 2010)

I don't know if Google News was localizing content based on my IP but last night when I was searching for news about the Expo the first 5-6 pages were all from UAE or regional sources.


----------



## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

Look at the bigger picture. What else is happening at the same time, not too far away? The little matter of a World Cup in Qatar. 

Could easily lead to a good bit of competition between the countries for attracting the best people. How will they do that? More attractive packages. 

Could be a lucrative time instead of a crippling one. Time will tell.

I appreciate that not every expat is in construction, but plenty of other industries are complementors to it. 

Salaries won't suddenly rocket, that isn't sustainable but you can bet, to keep people here and to attract new talent, amended rates will be built into bids, which will have to be passed on or there will be a talent drain to Doha.


----------



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

we all received a 15% across the board salary hike this morning!!!




























(and if you believe that.....)


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Ogri750 said:


> Salaries won't suddenly rocket, that isn't sustainable but you can bet, to keep people here and to attract new talent, amended rates will be built into bids, which will have to be passed on or there will be a talent drain to Doha.


Salaries can only increase IF there is an increase in revenue. Certainly the sector I work in there has been a gradual decline in client spend and with targets forever increasing, it really is an almost impossible situation now.


----------



## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

Happy they won,I could be wrong but I don't think the expo is a big deal anymore around the world.In the 50s,60s,70s and maybe 80s they were huge events but now its a smal event news wise.


----------



## colaxs (Nov 26, 2012)

The agency appointed by the landlord in my building sent out congratulatory SMSes to all tenants yesterday.

I don't know why I get a deep sense of foreboding..


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Chocoholic said:


> . Plus anyone that was here in 2008 will know what a disaster that period was and can see it all happening again, because people put on their rose tinted glasses and greed takes over.


I think some of the anti-skeptic folks came after 2008 so have little idea of what it was like back then with half the roads under construction and the rents increasing every 2 weeks, and talks of Satwa being demolished


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Tropicana said:


> I think some of the anti-skeptic folks came after 2008 so have little idea of what it was like back then with half the roads under construction and the rents increasing every 2 weeks, and talks of Satwa being demolished


I never EVER want to experience that again! The roads and the way people are driving and all the congestion is already reminiscient of that time.


----------



## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Why is all the negative focus on rising rents? People seem to be blindly spouting this mantra like sheep.

There's no direct correlation between the Expo and some crazy landlord in negative equity, burned from trying to flip property last time around. Sure some will try and ramp the rent up 30-40k but then they're doing that anyway.


----------



## Ogri750 (Feb 14, 2008)

2008 was tough, no doubt, especially the back end of it.

Call me an optimist or even call me a fool, but I would like to think that the UAE, not just Dubai, learnt something from then


----------



## LONGGOOD BYE (Dec 26, 2011)

When people see money signs in their eyes anything is possible.


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Mr Rossi said:


> Why is all the negative focus on rising rents? People seem to be blindly spouting this mantra like sheep.
> 
> There's no direct correlation between the Expo and some crazy landlord in negative equity, burned from trying to flip property last time around. Sure some will try and ramp the rent up 30-40k but then they're doing that anyway.


Massive boost for Dubai jobs, tourism and real estate | The National

However, care needs to be taken, particularly in the short term, to ensure that boosted sentiment doesn’t lead to an unsustainable situation forming in the real estate sector in particular, said Alan Robertson, regional chief executive of the company. 


“Owners may expect rents to increase overnight that wouldn’t necessarily be justified just on the back of Expo 2020. There’s no logic why rents should increase in the Marina or Downtown tomorrow, just because of the Expo in seven years’ time. :nod:

“If that happens, it could be a negative situation as it would prolong all this talk about the property market being a bubble.”


----------



## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Tropicana said:


> There’s no logic why rents should increase in the Marina or Downtown tomorrow, just because of the Expo in seven years’ time. :nod:


I like the cut of this guy's jib.

What people forget is there's a certain amount of chaos (both good and bad) to everything, causes have unpredictable effects. People shouldn't be worrying about rent increase but simply, can they stay ahead of the overall curve with whatever madness ensues?


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Tell that to one of my work mates who put a deposit down on a villa, only to see today that the villa is being readvertised on dubizzle at an inflated price as the LL wants to try and get more. Greedy ******s.


----------



## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

Chocoholic said:


> Tell that to one of my work mates who put a deposit down on a villa,


Then he's had a lucky escape. Get his deposit back and find another house. It's not going to be an infuriating or frustrating time ahead but there's no need to be a prisoner to it.


----------



## Chocoholic (Oct 29, 2012)

Mr Rossi said:


> Then he's had a lucky escape. Get his deposit back and find another house. It's not going to be an infuriating or frustrating time ahead but there's no need to be a prisoner to it.


They're refusing to give his deposit back!!!


----------



## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

I fall into the skeptical category for two reasons.

1. The rest of the world doesn't care. No matter how much of a big deal Dubai makes of the expo it is not the Olympics. I had a conference call with the UK and US today and commented that Dubai had won the expo and the general reaction was 'oh, ok, nice. What's the expo?' 

I don't mind if Dubai wants to host a big marketing conference / party but the attitude that it's somehow going to transform the city and win international accolade is a bit farfetched. 

2. Having lived through the last boom (I came in 2006) and watched the spectacular collapse in 2009 I'm well aware of how capable this city is of falling into another psychological mania unrelated to reality. The boom didn't start off badly but at some point the boom became a mania where so many people assumed $1 invested in the property market was going to translate into $100 a month later. It fueled development schemes that became more and more grandiose. Remember the indoor ski mountain that was going to be built in Dubailand? With luxury flats overlooking the slopes? Jumeirah Garden City? Which was going to see most of Satwa and a good portion of Jumeira 1 and 2 demolished? (Demolition actually started at the very peak of the boom - that large empty block just behind Al Wasl in Jumeira 1 used to be occupied with pleasant villas). 

People were being kicked out of houses and apartments and thrown into a rental market that was asking double or triple their previous rents. The authorities didn't care at all. Expats were disposable, after all. The boom quickly became all about making rich people richer. 

People who have only arrived since 2009 may not realise Dubai is perfectly capable of large scale irrationality among its residents and the danger of the expo is that what is essentially a non-entity globally will be used as an excuse to fuel another property bubble/mania. The locals are protected through their government but the 90% expat population will be completely unprotected by whatever may happen in the next few years. The sad reality is that so many expats are capable of buying into the mania.

I am going to have to start recruiting two new candidates for my team beginning in January. I last recruited for these roles in 2009-10 and at the time I could offer a housing allowance of 60K (these are junior roles aimed at people in their mid-late 20s). At the time 60K could get you a pleasant 1-bedroom apartment in the Marina or Downtown or the Greens, or if they wanted to save from the allowance, they could find a place in Tecom or JLT. 

I have not been authorised to offer higher starting salaries to the new candidates despite that the types of places going for 60K three years ago are now going for 80 to 90k. The company well remembers what happened during the last boom when soaring housing allowances to keep up with rent increases crippled the overhead budget and when revenues declined after the collapse, the company had no choice to let people go in order to keep us as competitive as possible.


----------



## Tropicana (Apr 29, 2010)

Adding on that when the first signs of a slowdown came, people went into overdrive claiming Dubai was immune and that problems elsewhere would mean a even bigger boom as Dubai was the last safe haven left. The Atlantis launch party in Oct 2008 was portrayed as a symbol of how Dubai can do things in style even when everyone else is facing a slowdown. 
My hope is that the authorities will deal with the boom time problems in a different way having seen what happened the last time


----------



## Stevesolar (Dec 21, 2012)

Tropicana said:


> Adding on that when the first signs of a slowdown came, people went into overdrive claiming Dubai was immune and that problems elsewhere would mean a even bigger boom as Dubai was the last safe haven left. The Atlantis launch party in Oct 2008 was portrayed as a symbol of how Dubai can do things in style even when everyone else is facing a slowdown.
> My hope is that the authorities will deal with the boom time problems in a different way having seen what happened the last time


The reality is that people have very short memories - so what has happened before can easily happen again.
Also don't forget - you have a whole new round of people either already in Dubai or eager to come here, that know nothing of what happened before and therefore could not even imagine how bad things could get in a future bust period.
It is extremely easy to get caught up in the hype of shiny new building projects. I visited Cityscape recently and was astounded at the payment terms of some of the really nice prestigious new developments - 20% down payment now, 20% in a few months, 20% a few months later - this is before you even get the keys to your shiny new home!!
I sure as heck am not going to fund a developer to build something from my pocket. Let them fund and build it - then I might consider buying the finished article (if it looks like the shiny brochure and is ready on time!!).There is surely enough margin in new builds to fund the building costs from the margin - but developers are too greedy or lazy to raise the necessary capital (or cannot actually secure it at competitive rates - due to past performance and the risky nature of the market)
Rant over!!!
Cheers
Steve


----------



## BedouGirl (Sep 15, 2011)

A friend of mine summed it up, for me anyway, on her post last night on FB - UNLIKE! For me, I was just about to buy a Garmin, but now I don't know because I reckon the roads will be changing as quickly as most people change their undies!


----------



## Felixtoo2 (Jan 16, 2009)

Hopefully I will be proved wrong but I can't help feeling that Expats celebrating the Expo win is like Turkeys celebrating Christmas!


----------



## vantage (May 10, 2012)

Felixtoo2 said:


> Hopefully I will be proved wrong but I can't help feeling that Expats celebrating the Expo win is like Turkeys celebrating Christmas!


Ha!


----------



## Kayote (Nov 12, 2013)

Felixtoo2 said:


> Hopefully I will be proved wrong but I can't help feeling that Expats celebrating the Expo win is like Turkeys celebrating Christmas!


Brilliantly put! :thumb:


----------

