Dubai Exhibition Centre (DEC) in Expo City will have an extensive network of transport, Dubai World Trade Centre officials said on Wednesday. They added that more than 10,000 car parking spaces will be available in the initial phase to accommodate millions of people who will visit the Centre during the events.

“In total, we have about 10,000 parking slots in Phase 1, distributed around the city. On the Sustainability side, we have about 7,000-plus parking spaces, and about 700 on the northwest side of the Dubai Exhibition Centre," said Mahir Julfar, executive vice-president, DWTC. "We've dedicated this parking space for the exhibitors, because they come early in the morning and leave late in the afternoon or the evening. So, we want to make sure that the visitors, when they come, they find parking. We've dedicated a transport hub where they can park their cars, and then we can shuttle them to any of the drop-offs that we have allocated for the visitors."

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"We have a small VIP parking as well,” he added.

The first phase of the Dh10-billion DEC will be completed in early 2026, nearly six months ahead of schedule, and will host its first major exhibition in January.

The first phase includes 140,000 square metres of space ready for exhibition, conferences, and large-scale events.

Covering 160,000 square metres, phase two will be complete by 2028, which will include permanent halls, dedicated service yards, enhanced road network and direct connectivity to Expo City.

Scheduled to be completed by 2031, the third and final phase will cover 180,000 square metres of indoor space across 26 halls - all on a single level - plus integrated hospitality, retail and commercial facilities.

Mahir Julfar added that the Dubai Metro is also a highly useful and fast option for visitors, as around 80 per cent of people find it more convenient.

“We've experienced it during Expo 2020 and COP28 that the metro has been one of the most convenient ways of reaching DEC or Expo City Dubai. Through the event committee team, we have conveyed that we wanted to increase the frequency of the metro. Also, we've allocated a few park and ride options, either it's at the end of the metro station, Centerpoint Station, National Paints Station, or a multi-story car park. In addition, we also add 20 buses that will be shuttling throughout the day from the Dubai World Trade Center to DEC every 30 minutes. This will go on for two hours before the show and then two hours after the show. Now these are numbers that we've started with, in case we need it. We will increase we will add more shuttle buses,” he said during a recent media briefing.

On the hotel side, DEC will have three hotels nearby at walking distance to Expo City; 45-plus hotels within 20 minutes driving; and over 150 hotels, three shopping malls, and over 15 major attractions within 30 minutes driving distance from the Exhibition Centre, giving a complete destination experience.

“The entire destination is totally integrated. Hopefully, by 2033, once the Maktoum International airport is ready, that will boost the entire ecosystem. That's why everyone's talking about this as the 'future city of Dubai',” he said.

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