Welcoming 1,000,000+ visitors to the Australian Pavilion – February Update
Priety B. S. Padam
Head of Marketing & Communications - Middle East, Africa, Turkey & Pakistan
It’s getting bigger and busier as we head towards the end of Expo 2020 Dubai, the world’s greatest show.
By mid-February, expo had 13.5 million visits, and the #AustralianPavilion welcomed its one millionth visitor since its opening. We also had 949 international government and business delegations visit the pavilion in February, hosted 21 events, and to date have had 2,546 entertainment acts perform at the pavilion forecourt (Oct-Feb).
The Food Month
Every year, Dubai hosts the biggest F&B trade show in the world – Gulfood. After nearly eleven years, the Australian Trade & Investment Commission (Austrade) had an onsite exhibition stand and ran a Food & Agri digital campaign promoting our participation.
Over 50 agrifood companies and 10 industry associations were represented at this year’s event through hybrid participation, including Meat & Livestock Australia, Almond Board of Australia, ABW Foods Australia, SunRice, Flavour Creations, Morlife, Stella Foods Australia Pty Ltd and many more. Companies who could not participate physically at the show had an option to exhibit through the virtual Australia stand during Gulfood.
To welcome the visiting delegation, the pavilion hosted a networking reception with key partners and stakeholders providing a brief on the opportunities in the Middle East markets for Australia’s agrifood exporters and showcasing the premium F&B that the Australian Pavilion has been garnering accolades for since expo started.
To coincide with this major exhibition, expo also ran the Food, Agriculture & Livelihoods thematic week in February. The World Majlis: Farms of the Future – Feeding the Planet with Technology session was held at the Australian Pavilion that brought together diverse thought leaders, and changemakers who focused on innovative ways on how growing and consuming food will define diet and nutrition in the future. Australian industry professionals, Professor Andrew Lowe - Director of Food Innovation, University of Adelaide; Matthew Atkins - General Manager, Bega Foods International; and Andrew Cox, General Manager - International Markets, Meat & Livestock Australia joined the panel.
The Australian Pavilion also co-hosted the “Key Ingredients” Food for the Soul: Exploring Traditions of Gastronomy and Cultivation Through the Ages event with Expo focusing on innovations in ag science, and food in cultures around the world.
Celebrity Chef Aaron Brooks who participated in the pavilion guest chef program during Gulfood week, brought his culinary skills to Dubai by focusing on a “savour-more” concept, which invites diners to enjoy flavours in an enhanced social dining experience. Besides serving his signature steakhouse dishes to VIP guests, Aaron also ran cooking demonstrations at the pavilion forecourt for the general audience.
The Australian Pavilion continued its culinary collaboration journey with chefs from the Ireland and Spain pavilions at the Salud, Slainte & Cheers event, where the three nations came to celebrate their cuisine, expertise, culture, and music.
Austrade and the pavilion welcomed members of the Rotary Club Dubai for dinner to discuss trade and investment opportunities with Australia.
Since it has been such a food focused month, sharing some insights on consumer tastebuds – what caught their fancy when dining at the 3 F&B outlets at the pavilion – Melbourne Lane Café, The Local Aussie Grill, and The Local Aussie Bar. The most popular items have been the coffee, lamingtons, bush tucker skewers, Parmi burgers, and beers. Other regular orders include smoothies, tim tams, fish & chips, street skewers, and wines. The overall beverage consumption has been higher due to the soaring popularity of our coffee and the warm temperatures the UAE has experienced the last few months.
The Education Agenda
As Australia announced the opening of its borders for students and tourists, Austrade launched a number of programs to assist returning students and prospective applicants.
The Study Australia masterclass series designed to strengthen Australia’s reputation as a high-quality education provider and to engage the entire global student and education community was hosted on the Study Australia Expo 2020 Virtual Pavilion, featuring 8 pre-recorded sessions delivered by globally renowned Australian academics including two Nobel laureates; Professor Barry Marshall and Professor Brian Schmidt AC. Topics ranged from hydrogen, food sustainability to the expansion of the universe, and the use of AI in healthcare. The live virtual events were launched in partnership with Times Higher Education (THE) from 7-17 February 2022 and had 52,596 class registrations in total. The masterclasses are still available for viewing via the virtual Pavilion till the end of March.
A Study Australia Virtual Fair MENA was also run on the Expo 2020 Virtual Pavilion, which had 881 school counsellors and students registered for the event. Led by 27 Australian universities and supported by Austrade, the event was the first student recruitment virtual fair focussed on promoting Study Australia in the Middle East and Africa markets.
Austrade and delivery partner Practera collaborated with the University of Wollongong in Dubai, Curtin University Dubai, and Murdoch University Dubai to deliver the Study Australia Industry Experience Program. 130 students from across Australian institutions in Dubai virtually worked on real industry projects with UAE, Australian, and offshore employers over a two-week period.
The pavilion received a delegation of 18 higher education university representatives from India led by Dr Vidya Yeravdekar, FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) Chair for Higher Education, and Pro Vice Chancellor – Symbiosis International University, to participate in a roundtable discussion with representatives from the Austrade India and UAE teams, state governments, Australian TNE institutions – University of Wollongong Dubai, Murdoch University, Curtin University, and Australian National University on understanding collaboration opportunities between Indian universities and Australian Transnational Education (TNE) providers. The session highlighted recent changes in the Australian education sector and provided updates on the Indian regulatory environment to facilitate TNE partnerships.
Almost there…
With only a month to go, the Australian Pavilion is geared to deliver an extensive end of expo program in March. Keep yourself updated via @Expo2020Australia channels on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.