Expo 2020 Luxembourg Pavilion Attracts 685k Visitors

On Thursday 7 April 2022, the Ireland Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce (ILCC) held an in-person event about the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, re-scheduled from 13 January, at Espace Namur in Luxembourg-Haam.

ILCC Chairman, Joe Huggard, welcomed the 30 attendees to the first in-person event the Irish chamber had organised since early 2020. He mentioned that he had the idea of asking Maggy Nagel to present Luxembourg's participation at Expo 2020 Dubai when he visited the Luxembourg Pavilion a few months ago.

Maggy Nagel, Commissioner General of the Luxembourg Pavilion and President of the economic interest group Luxembourg @ Expo 2020, made a presentation (one of around 80 such presentations she has made on the subject) about the process and challenges of creating a pavilion and participating in a universal exhibition; the presentation included a number of videos, from a construction time lapse and the Grand Ducal welcome to the video commissioned to be screened on the large video wall inside the pavilion during the Expo.

She started by explaining that the Expo was conceived to amaze the world and it was delivered within the backdrop of the pandemic and some of the greatest global challenges. She mentioned that 30,000 volunteers helped make the Expo a truly collective effort; the Expo marked a major achievement for Dubai and the Middle East.

The Expo 2020 started on 1 October 2021 and finished on 31 March 2022, attracting almost 25 million visitors in total; the Luxembourg Pavilion attracted a total of 684,356 visitors (very close to the target number) and was voted one of the most innovative pavilions at the Expo - the Luxembourg Pavilion was presented as one of the best in the Dubai TimeOut magazine.

Maggy Nagel explained that she formed the economic interest group and was given a lot of freedom to create the project, taking on board the feedback of many people involved, all with different backgrounds. The partners included Luxembourg's Ministry of the Economy, the Ministry of Mobility and Public Works, the Chamber of Commerce and various commercial sponsors. Luxembourg also has an embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in Abu Dhabi, which provided support during the Expo.

She mentioned that Luxembourg has been present at 24 world expos, the first time at the first expo that was held in London in 1851. The theme of the Luxembourg Pavilion at Expo 2020 was "Resourceful Luxembourg"; Daniel Sahr was the director of the Luxembourg Pavilion, permanently on site during the Expo, who headed the large team which reflected diversity.

One of the issues visitors experienced was queueing outside pavilions, with some having two- to three-hour waiting times. Grand Duke Henri had recorded a short video welcome message which was very much appreciated by the visitors to the Luxembourg Pavilion which was located in the Opportunity district (one of three such districts in the 240 hectares site).

The construction of the Luxembourg Pavilion involved 240 people in total and was completed in early 2021, with the finishing touches made by summer 2021. The pavilion had five sub-themes: diversity, connecting / connectivity, sustainability (with a 15m-wide video wall), enterprising and beautiful; it also had a restaurant (the Schengen Lounge, under Kim-Kevin de Dood, a Michelin-starred chef; 29,624 meals were served), a shop (offering a special collection, also reflecting nation branding) and media tables. It had a large indoor slide too, which around 80% of visitors took to descend, the other opting to take the stairs.

Maggy Nagel explained that, to choose the wines for the restaurant, she organised a blind tasting of 60 wines from the Grand Duchy, from which they selected six for the wine menu. The Luxembourg Pavilion also held a series of events, including hosting Luxembourg trade missions to Dubai; Grand Duke Henri and Crown Prince Guillaume also visited the Expo 2020 and the Luxembourg pavilion.

For the Closing Ceremony, entry was free-of-charge and around one million people attended.

For those who could not attend the Expo 2020 in Dubai, and specifically the Luxembourg Pavilion there, Maggy Nagel pointed out that it is still possible to do so via an online tour of the pavilion that is available via the Expo 2020 website.

The Luxembourg Pavilion, which had an overall budget of €32 million, is being handed over to the UAE and will remain in situ for at least five years, with that agreement currently being finalised. The World Expo site is being transformed into what has been named as the new 2020 district of Dubai. She clarified that the content (the scenography, etc.) is being brought back to Luxembourg to be used by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism.

She concluded that the Expo 2020 was a long and exciting adventure which took eight years, but it is now over and she is happy that she is now retiring. She acknowledged that Luxembourg will participate in the next World Expo which will take place in 2025 in Japan, just three years away.

The presentation was followed by a question and answer (Q&A) session and a networking cocktail.

The Expo 2020 event followed on from the ILCC annual general meeting (AGM) that was held earlier in the evening.