Ukraine's biggest national flag on the country's highest flagpole and the giant 'Motherland' monument are seen at a compound of the World War II museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 16, 2021. Picture taken with a drone.
Ukraine's biggest national flag on the country's highest flagpole and the giant 'Motherland' monument are seen at a compound of the World War II museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 16, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. Reuters / VALENTYN OGIRENKO

KEY POINTS

  • Ukraine hopes to attract 14 million tourists if it hosts Expo 2030 in Odesa
  • The world fair may also inject $10 billion into the Ukrainian economy
  • Ukraine is competing against Italy, Saudi Arabia and South Korea to host Expo 2030

Ukraine expects to draw in 14 million tourists within half a year if it wins the bid to host the 2030 World Expo, or Expo 2030, in its southwestern province of Odesa, according to Ukrainian officials.

Expo 2030 may also generate 3% of Ukraine's foreign direct investments that year, Kyrylo Kryvolap, an adviser to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, said during a briefing hosted by the Media Center Ukraine civic initiative.

"We can say thanks to Expo 2030, up to $10 billion will flow into the economy," Kryvolap said.

In accordance with the requirements of the fair's organizer, the International Exhibition Bureau, Ukraine's envisioned Expo 2030 area will be located in irrigated fields sized between 200 to 300 hectares, according to Expo 2030 Odesa Public Council chairman Evgeny Levyenberg.

"This is a requirement of the International Exhibition Bureau – the project must solve the environmental problems of the place where the exhibition will be held," Levyenberg said during a presentation of the scale model of the Expo 2030 complex that was developed for free by the British firm Zaha Hadid Architects.

"All these buildings can be dismantled and transformed. Each country, after the end of the exhibition, will be able to either take the pavilion to itself and turn it into, for example, a school, or donate it to Ukraine," Roman Hrygoryshyn, the deputy head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, said.

Ukraine will need $11 billion for Expo 2030, split between the $2 billion required for the construction of everything related to holding the event within six months and $9 billion for the logistics and infrastructure investments in Odesa, according to Kryvolap.

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The other potential hosts for the fair are Italy, Saudi Arabia and South Korea with their respective candidate cities of Rome, Riyadh and Busan.

South Korean pop group BTS held a free concert in Busan last October, titled "BTS <Yet To Come> in Busan," in support of their country's bid to host the World Expo 2030, majority state-owned Yonhap News Agency reported at the time.

Russia, which also submitted a bid to host the 2030 Expo before withdrawing following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, has launched strikes against Odesa over the course of the war.

Firefighters work to put out a fire caused by a missile attack, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa's port, Ukraine in this handout picture released July 23, 2022. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
Firefighters work to put out a fire caused by a missile attack, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Odesa's port, Ukraine in this handout picture released July 23, 2022. State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS Reuters / STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE OF UKRAI