If anyone had any doubts that the UAE is the place to be, a glance at the nation’s sporting calendar for the next few months should dispel them. With the onset of the pleasant autumn weather will come a raft of big events, kicking off with the Fifa Under 17 World Cup in Abu Dhabi from Thursday.
Next month, motorsport fans will be heading to the capital for the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix, and rugby supporters will be scrimmaging for the best vantage point at the Dubai Sevens tournament.
Before the year is out, there’ll be the DP World Tour Golf Championship and the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. The first half of next year will see more world-class golf and tennis, along with international horse-racing’s biggest event, the Dubai World Cup.
What's true of sport is also true in entertainment, with big-name acts also beating a path to the UAE, where a friendly welcome is always assured. Combine all this with the infrastructure and tourism-related projects to be delivered over the next few years, and there should be no doubt about the UAE's growing prominence on the world stage.
Success for Dubai’s World Expo 2020 bid won’t just be the culmination of this momentum, it will be the start of even bigger things to come.