Expo 2015 - Will Milan Have Enough Hotels?

April 23, 2008 · Filed Under Milan · Comment

It’s odd what you end up chatting about while taking a taxi. Yesterday, for example, I got talking with the taxi driver about the forthcoming Expo in Milan.

After asking if I was English, and from London, the Expo event came up and the driver observed that he did not know if Milan would be able to accommodate all the visitors which the Expo event will draw. He had a point. Milan is a tiny city when compared to a metropolis like London, and Milan does tend to become pretty clogged up on the accommodation front when there is some major trade show on.

However the Expo is potentially much bigger than a mere trade show, and all the visitors will need to stay somewhere. Yes, the taxi driver’s point got me thinking. Time to track down some answers.

A quick hop over to the Milan Expo web site provided me with some detailed answers on the accommodation front. More specifically part of the Expo 2015 proposal document specifically addresses this issue in Chapter 12 - The accommodation plan for visitors and participants’ staff which gives plenty of detail on how Milan and its hinterland will absorb all the extra visitors who are expected to come to the Expo event.

To briefly summarise the accommodation plan, what the Milanese authorities plan to do is the following:

construct of a few more hotels,
provide temporary facilities for accommodating exhibitors’ staff,
construct a 2000 bed Olympic style village,
build a ‘youth village’, and various other facilities.

In addition, the Milanese authorities plan to promote bed and breakfast type facilties, as well as relying on people staying in hotels within a 90 minute driving time radius of Milan.

It appears as though the accommodation aspects of the Milan Expo event have been well considered - otherwise I guess Milan would not have been given the opportunity to hold the event.

It was an interesting query that the taxi driver raised though. And I’m sure he’s not the only one to have considered this.

Tags: accomodation, expo, expo 2015, hotels, Italy, Milan

Milan Clinches the 2015 Expo

April 4, 2008 · Filed Under Milan · 1 Comment

In an odd show of political unity, right wing Letizia Morrati, and left wingers Massimo D’Alema and Romano Prodi got together in Paris, along with Al Gore to promote Milan’s bid for the 2015 Universal Exhibition (Expo).

The green-theme, hence Gore’s presence, plus supporting music by Andrea Bocelli and Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour, meant that Milan’s bid won against the city of Izmir in Turkey. Even the appearance of an Italian football star did not manage to put the judges off. Shame there was no pizza cook though.

Anyway, lots of mutual back slapping has taken place, and noises are being made in Milan about improved infrastructure; read new metro line; increases in the prices of housing, and various other goodies that will ensure the already well-heeled Milanese remain so.

I’m looking forward to the rich experience that I expect from one these Expo events, if I’m still here in 2015, that is. Seven years is quite a long time.

I have to admit to being curious, as I’ve never seen an Expo first hand. Sounds like good photographic material, not to mention the surge in demand for English language courses and translations that will inevitably take place. Might even collar a few more readers for this here blog too.

The downside? None really, aside from the fact that I’ll be 50 in 2015. Now, that is frightening. I mean 50, that certainly ain’t young any more. Still, at least the Expo is something to look forward to in my old age.

For more information, go here: Milan Expo 2015

Tags: expo 2015, interesting, Italia, Italian, Italians, Italy, Me, Milan