Effects Facing Transportation Section In Expo 2020

Impact on Transportation Sector

Discuss about the Effects Facing Transportation Section in Expo 2020.

Mega events have a great impact on a country’s transportation section as highlighted in the study by (Antonio et al., 2014). The research shows how the 2020 expo will benefit the economy of Dubai in five key areas with transportation taking the second position. In another research by the Antonio et al. (2014) reports that the transportation sector of Dubai will have to grow if it has to handle the projected transport demand of 35%. The research also points out that the skills in infrastructure will be on high demand as a preparation for the event. Some of the legacies that will be left behind will include the state of the art infrastructure. According to Antonio et al. (2014) “How do expos impact transportation” he explains that rather than the benefits that come with expos there are also the challenges that host countries will face. In his report he tells that host countries need to have financial plan set in place to be able to handle the mega events. As much as there is going to be a boost on transportation the government needs to address the indirect and the direct impacts of the expos such as sudden price hikes in fares.  

In another research conducted by the Logistics Middle East (2013) and reported by Ahmad Lala it showed that the expo will have both pain and gain on the logistics sector. The financial numbers in the country’s revenue is expected to increase but the big question is how much will the companies take from the pie? With the projected demand the sector will attract new companies that did not exist in the market hence extra competition. The traffic situation will be chaotic and moving from one point to the other will be a challenge to the logistic companies. The cost of doing business will go up in general; the logic behind it is that with the increase in demand it will mean that the supply will be low which in turn will cause inflation as the cost of man power will go up according to Ahmad Lala (2013). The Middle East economic analyst Bryan Plmondon (2013) on the other hand reports that in the non-oil based economy the transport sector will benefit more from the expo at 32% but the infrastructure part will rug behind from 2016 to 2017 but it will pick up as more funding will be made available from the increase in oil prices expected later in 2016. 

Methodology

According to Expo 2020 (2013) the expo has the power to transform the economies of countries and make them develop in new sectors. An instance is the Shanghai expo that attracted 73 million people in 2010 and a further 2.7 million tourists visited the country. After the expo the country had developed 6 new subways and four thousand new taxi brands. Dubai is one of the leading tourist destination around the world hence has properly laid out architectural designs and infrastructures. The expo is expected to attract at least 25 million people from all over the world that means that the transportation has to be carefully planned out earlier. The country is expected to spend at least $ 9.8 billion in the transportation section to improve the current state (Bhavani & Kukunuru, 2016). Most of the visitors will arrive through air and expansions to be done on the airports.

The internal transportation in Dubai changed drastically after the announcement of the expo. Dubai launched the Dubai Metro to cater for internal transportation to ease up the jams. Dubai is expected to increase its bus networks as well as the fleets to be able to ensure smooth flow of the population that will be expected. With the Dubai International Airport reported to handle 55 million visitors every year with flights to 220 destinations the airport is expected to be prepared because the flights will increase drastically during the expo. Despite the preparedness the transport industry needs to understand the behavior of markets that after the demand is over how do you cope up with the return to normal. The analysis of how markets behave in sudden demands has been analyzed by Ahmad (2013) in his report to the Gulf States for Globe Express Services. He points out that the logistic companies need not to be greedy of the opportunity they just have to have a master plan in place to avoid getting out of business.

There has been a lot of research and literatures done on the effects of mega vents such as the Expo on the transportation section of the host country. There are many articles which have been written to study such events. According to Ahmad (2013) he mentions in his paper that event studies require an in depth analysis of both the positive and negative effects. An insight into the research can be done to ascertain the facts.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Though using surveys I was able to gather data on how the transport sector is expected to behave during the 2020 expo. I was able to get the quantitative and qualitative results that could be easily analyzed. Accessing the transport sector is broad and it requires diversified approaches in data collection. I used several research questions such as what is an expo. How will be the expo change the transport industry? What are the opportunities that come with the expo? What are the negative implications of the expo to the transport industry? How do you plan on exploiting the opportunities? What are the challenges that will make it hard for you to achieve your goals or target during the expo?

The survey had 10 participants in the transport industry and others were in other industry but used public transport more often. Six of the participants were from the transport industry as either drivers or operating in the logistic companies. Using online survey software I helped the participants go through the questions and give Reponses in the simplest way possible. The participants were required to give their personal information and agree to the survey. This helped them be at ease and give more genuine answers. The participants were the working class ranging from 25-45 years of age. I chose the age bracket because the expo is more of technology driven and it requires people are more intimate with the current technological trends. I had selected 30 participants at the start of the survey but because others were not ready to disclose their information I narrowed the number to 10 participants whom I felt gave satisfying answers. The results I gathered were what the participants perceived to be the effects of the Expo on their lives. 

Conclusion and Recommendations

The Dubai 2020 Expo will have a great impact on the economy of Dubai both positive and negative. The notable areas that will be affected greatly include the transportation section considering the nature of the event. Mega events such as this attract people from all over the world meaning that every preparation has to be put in place to accommodate the overwhelming number of visitors. From my survey the participants saw the Expo as an opportunity to invest in the key areas of transport which will be the main issue to address. What the participants did not understand is how the transportation will be impacted such as the logistics. From my literature reviews analyst predict that investors are going to turn the table around if they are careful in balancing the opportunities with the resulting negative impacts such as the cost of transportation hiking up which can be avoided by improving the already existing infrastructure rather than increasing their vehicle fleets. Of all the participants in the survey only two of them noted the negative effects of the expo on transportation. The government of Dubai needs to address the aftermath that the expos is going to cost the transport sector through seating with the stake holders in the transport sector.

Bhavani, G. & Kukunuru, S. (2016). Impact of EXPO 2020 on Dubai Financial Market – An Event Study on Banks, Investment and Insurance Sectors. International Journal Of Financial Research, 7(2).

The authors Bhavani and Kukunuru give reports of how the expo 2020 will change the economy of Dubai greatly given the fact it has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. They give a critical analysis on the sector of Transportation and how there are going to be both positive and negative effects. Even with the projected increase in revenues there has to be a balance that has to be looked at to avoid companies from going out of business after the economy stabilizes.

Antonio, J., Moroy Anton, Jan Jose, & Gema Saez. (2014). Mega- events impact one economic growth. African Journal of Business Management, 5(16), 6940-6948.

In their second edition the three authors analyze how Mega events change the economics of host countries drastically. Citing examples from previous mega events such as the World cup that took place in South Africa, the impact it had on the country was so great. They show that the expo 2020 will sky rocket Dubai in the smart city initiative. Transportation being the key areas that improves drastically in such events. Dubai will be the first country to host the expo in the Middle East meaning much has to be done if it will take the opportunity.

Ahmad, L. (2013). Logistics Middle East. The Impact Of Dubai 2020 Expo On Logistics, 2(1).

In the article Ahmad addresses the issue of transportation in detail. Most benefits will come to the transportation sector but what the key investors are forgetting is how the industry will be affected after the expo. He gives insights on how the investors can take cautions early enough to avoid being driven by greed of financial returns. This relates to my report on the effects that the expo will have on Dubai’s transport section.