As Saudi Arabia prepares to host Expo 2030, the experience of Osaka 2025 offers lessons on how the Kingdom can turn the six-month event into longer-term economic and business opportunities.
Expo 2030 Riyadh is expected to attract more than 42 million visits from 197 countries across a site of nearly 6 million sq. meters, creating a major platform for investment, tourism and private-sector growth.
Osaka’s biggest lesson is that operational and cost discipline matter as much as spectacle.
According to Joseph Salem, partner, Arthur D. Little, Osaka’s experience highlights the need for Riyadh to lock in procurement, use index-linked contracts and maintain a 15–20 percent contingency buffer, while completing key transport infrastructure well ahead of Expo 2030.
Transport and logistics, hospitality, construction, retail and F&B are likely to benefit first, followed by tourism, aviation and MICE during the event itself.
“After the event, the real dividend is legacy infrastructure: Osaka’s metro extension and airport works are now permanent assets with decades of use ahead,” Salem told Arab News, adding: “Riyadh is already designing for this — at least 95 percent of what’s built by Expo 2030 Riyadh Co. will be repurposed as a Global Village, so real estate, education, and business services stand to benefit long after the gates close.”
Business opportunities beyond the Expo
Homyar Buhariwalla, strategy and transformation leader at PwC Middle East also agreed with Salem’s assessment, saying that the real value of Expo 2030 will come after the six-month event, as its infrastructure, expertise and business relationships continue to drive economic activity, attract global organization and strengthen Riyadh’s position as a regional business hub.
“Saudi Arabia has already laid many of the foundations needed to support business expansion. Expo provides a platform to build on that progress by helping Saudi companies reach new markets, enabling more SMEs to become part of regional and global supply chains, and attracting investment that supports innovation, develops skills and improves productivity,” Buhariwalla told Arab News.
He added that for international organizations, Saudi Arabia is increasingly seen as a place to establish a long- term presence and serve the wider region.
“Expo will allow businesses to better understand the scale of the market, the pace of development, and the breadth of sectors shaping the Kingdom’s economy,” said the PwC Middle East official.
Preparing startups and SMEs for Expo opportunities
Saudi-based restaurant-tech and fintech platform SPICE adds a more practical dimension to how the Kingdom’s startups and SMEs can position themselves to benefit from Expo 2030, with preparation, relationship-building and access to suitable financing emerging as key factors.
Zeid Husban, co-founder and CEO of the firm, said Osaka showed that relationships and trust matter as much as the technology on display.
“Japanese firms treated the Expo less as a trade show and more as a long-term relationship-building exercise, pairing SMEs with chambers of commerce and cross-industry business matching well before the event opened. Startups in Saudi Arabia should take that same approach and start now, not in 2030,” Husban said.
He said the key lesson from Osaka is preparation, with structured SME support and access to alternative financing helping Saudi food and beverage and hospitality businesses prepare for the demand expected from Expo 2030’s 40 million-plus visitors.
Husban said Expo is also likely to accelerate the Kingdom’s startup ecosystem, giving Saudi-built companies a larger platform to expand regionally and globally.
The CEO also highlighted opportunities in hospitality and F&B, with the development of 70,000 new hotel rooms and a broader visitor economy expected to create demand for growth capital.
When asked what regulatory, technological or market shift would most accelerate growth in the Kingdom, Husban pointed to greater adoption of alternative, Shariah-compliant financing models for sectors such as hospitality and F&B, saying more flexible funding structures could help businesses overcome the seasonality and volatility of the sector and scale more quickly.
“Saudi Arabia has already moved fast on enabling fintech and alternative finance, and that momentum is a big part of why we chose to headquarter SPICE in Riyadh,” the CEO said, adding: “Continued clarity here would let us and others deploy capital even faster into a sector that’s core to Vision 2030’s hospitality ambitions and, by extension, to Expo 2030’s success.”
Long-term economic impact, Vision 2030 alignment
PwC Middle East’s Buhariwalla also highlighted Expo 2030’s potential to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s global competitiveness, saying the event will give businesses, investors and visitors an opportunity to experience the Kingdom’s transformation firsthand.
“Having worked on Expo previously, I’ve seen how powerful these events can be in shaping how a country is understood internationally. They give businesses, investors, and visitors the chance to experience a market in a way that no report or presentation can fully capture,” he said.
The PwC representative added: “Expo 2030 comes at a time when Saudi Arabia has established itself as a continuously evolving destination for business, tourism and investment.
“It provides a platform for people to see progress first-hand, understand the scale of the market, and appreciate the breadth of sectors shaping the Kingdom’s future.”
Buhariwalla further noted that Riyadh Expo 2030 is expected to showcase Saudi Arabia’s economic diversity, talent and culture while boosting investor confidence, tourism, international partnerships and Riyadh’s role as a regional hub for business, innovation and global events.
Arthur D. Little’s Salem also highlighted the Expo’s broader institutional impact, saying that the Bureau International des Expositions’s approval of the legal framework governing international participation “signals Riyadh is positioning Expo 2030 not just as an event, but as a durable diplomatic and economic institution.”
