The first World Expo held in the Middle East region East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) has ended. Expo 2020 Dubai welcomed over 22.93 million guests and recorded almost 31 million online visits.
The event in Dubai has become a landmark event not only for the people of the UAE, but also for visitors from all over the world, including political leaders, heads of state, members of royal families and world celebrities. The world's largest exhibition under the motto “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”, which lasted 6 months, also served as a platform to address key global issues related to ecology, the future of transport and travel, innovative ideas for holistic youth development and many others.
Analysts from the American Meltwater, the world's first media monitoring company, and social media experts compared the dynamics of online mentions of the Expo from October 1, 2021 to April 5, 2022, as well as the popularity of pavilions among visitors.  ;
The Saudi Arabia Pavilion was the most visited attraction at Expo 2020 Dubai, receiving over 4.8 million tourists, according to the data. The architectural appeal of the pavilion and the program of activities showed the best social, cultural and economic changes taking place in the Kingdom in accordance with the Vision 2030 reform program. Saudi Arabia has become one of the main contenders to host Expo 2030.
Other popular venues include — The UAE pavilion, resembling a falcon in flight, is a four-story white building with hospitality areas and exhibition space.
Pavilions from Russia, China, Japan, Great Britain and Germany were also very popular among visitors.< /p>
Al Wasl Plaza has become the main attraction and heart of Expo 2020 in Dubai. The domed architectural structure captured the attention of every visitor by transforming into a 360-degree projection screen with more than 250 state-of-the-art projectors.
Expo 2020 was also a huge success in the virtual environment, with tens of millions of virtual visitors from all over the world attending with numerous international pavilion presentations, colorful parades and celebrity performances. The counter on virtualexpodubai.com shows that since it opened on October 1, 2021, the event has been attended by more than 31 million people across all continents, with the UAE, India and the Philippines topping the list of countries with the most online viewers. They are followed by Egypt, USA, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UK, Italy and Japan.
The show garnered a large number of views on the Internet, especially the Opening Ceremony — 6 million. The online audience has further grown with the appearance in Dubai of global figures such as Britain's Prince William, sports icons including Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Novak Djokovic. A steady growth in online mentions of the exhibition was observed from October 2021 to April 2022, with the highest spike occurring in March 2022 with a total of 4.79 million mentions. The most popular online topics included the hashtags #Expo2020, #Expo2020Dubai, #Dubai and others.
The Expo 2020 series of concert evenings was highlighted by “Endless Nights”. They were attended by world and Arab superstars. Arab singer and composer Kadim Al-Sakhir opened the live music event. Meltwater data showed that the top gigs that were talked about online included those by Alicia Keys and Coldplay. They launched their albums Keys and Music of the Spheres with over 3 million views online, followed by performances by Amr Diab and Christina Aguilera.
The first World Expo in the MENASA region was supported by leading nutrition brands and drinks: Albaik, Adrift Burger Bar, Arabian Teahouse, Mama'esh and Alkebulan.
Expo 2020 in Dubai broke previous records not only as the most attended but also as the most talked about event worldwide over the past 6 months.
