Expo 2020 to kick-start Dubai’s F&B sector recovery- JLL
The upcoming Expo 2020 will kick-start the recovery of Dubai’s food and beverage (F&B) sector, according to real estate consultancy JLL in a report.
The sector, which had a challenging period last year, will also benefit from the relaxation of precautionary measures, as well as renewed demand for travel and increased consumer confidence, the report said.
The exposition is dubbed as the biggest in-person event since the start of the coronavirus last year, with an estimated 30,000 visitors expected every month.
“Dubai Expo 2020 is anticipated to provide a fillip to the emirate’s consumer foodservice activity as both tourism and business travel bounce back,” JLL said.
While demand is forecast to grow, players in the F&B sector don’t necessarily have to expand or open new outlets.
“While we anticipate that demand for F&B will increase across the UAE, this does not necessarily mean that there will be a need for more restaurants to open, but rather for the existing ones to reinvent themselves and for some to relocate to newly created higher-populated residential or business areas to capture demand within those localities,” said Alexis Marcoux-Varvatsoulis, foodservice consulting lead, JLL Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The report is based on a survey of 45,000 F&B outlets across eight cities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Europe. It found that Dubai had the highest number of outlets per resident.
