MILAN // Hotels and guesthouses have experienced huge increases in visitor bookings thanks to the Milan Expo, offering a glimpse of what venues in Dubai could expect during Expo 2020.
Many venues are booked up and prices have increased significantly as travellers from China and Germany, in particular, arrive in the northern Italian city.
Bookings have risen, even for several months ahead, meaning that hotels expect to benefit from greater visitor numbers for the duration of the six-month expo, which is expected to attract 20 million people.
Dubai Expo 2020 is forecast to draw 25 million visitors.
At La Cordata, a hotel south-west of Milan’s city centre, bookings are up this month, as well as September and October, the final two months of the expo, according to the hotel’s manager, Roberto Canova.
He said many of the bookings comprised large groups.
“The price is more or less 20 or 25 per cent more than the normal season and the occupancy is [up by] 15 to 20 per cent,” said Mr Canova.
“At the moment we’re quite satisfied. May is completely booked more or less.”
Mr Canova said prices for beds in dormitory rooms had surged to between €26 (Dh107) and €32 a night, compared to the normal figure of between €21 and €26.
At the Eurohotel Milan, in the north-east of the city centre, room prices have increased by between €20 and €30 a night, compared to the typical rate of about €100.
With occupancy rates already at about 93 per cent, Max Malmsheimer, a supervisor at the hotel, said there was little scope for prices to rise.
“For us, it’s going to be an increase in business,” he said.
However, he questioned whether some hotels built for the Expo in the north-west of the city centre, where the expo site is located, would attract visitors once the event was completed. That area was fairly run-down and, now, shiny new hotels rub shoulders with 1970s creations that remain in place.
“Outside of the city centre they will have problems to fill these hotels [after the expo],” he said.
At the Hotel Brasil, which lies to the east of the city centre, prices have increased by about 50 per cent, with most visitors coming from Germany and China, said a receptionist.
newsdesk@thenational.ae
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Juventus v Olympiakos
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Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm
Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm
Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm
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