Everything must go! Expo 2020 Dubai pavilions slash prices on souvenirs

Bargains to be had as pavilion shops launch sales before the last week of the world fair

Alice Kuaningi says handmade items such as bags are available for half price at the Papa New Guinea Pavilion. All photos: Ruel Pableo for The National

Gabrielle Moxey from the Bahamas Pavilion with the Ignite spice, the pavilion's best-selling item.

Odette Camacho pictured with some of the hand carved sculptures on sale at the Mozambique Pavilion.

Ignite spice has been flying off the shelf at the Bahamas Pavilion since prices were halved at the start of the month.

Sadulloi Ismat said any souvenirs not sold at the Tajikistan Pavilion by the end of expo will be shared among Expo staff.

If you had your eye on a certain souvenir from Expo 2020 Dubai but winced at the price tag, then you could be in luck.

Many pavilions this week are slashing prices on merchandise as they prepare to offload their wares ahead of the closing ceremony.

The National visited pavilions to see what bargains were available in the last-minute sale.

“We have everything on sale right now and it’s all 50 per cent off,” said Alice Kuaningi, who was working at the Papa New Guinea Pavilion.

“We’ve got everything from coffee, honey, chocolates, lotions, oils, paintings and hand-crafted bags all from Papa New Guinea.

“The most popular selling item so far is the coffee. I predict we will have sold out of everything before the end of the week, people can’t get enough of it.”

The logic behind the sale was self-evident, she said.

“We decided to reduce costs at the start of March because we knew we needed to sell it all,” she said.

“The reason we have to sell everything is simple. It would be far too expensive to ship it all back home.”

Another pavilion that was also doing a roaring trade in sales since prices were slashed at the start of the month was the Bahamas.

Staff said visitors could not get enough of beach shorts and polo shirts as well as a taste of the country’s spices.

“We have 50 per cent off a lot of items and others are buy one get one free,” said the pavilion’s Gabrielle Moxey.

“We are nearly completely sold out of the polo shirts and the shorts, they have been so popular in recent weeks.

“People must be buying them up for their summer vacations.”

The hottest selling item, quite literally if it lived up to its name, was a local spice called Ignite.

Before March, a small jar would have set you back Dh45 but is now available for Dh22.50.

Bargain hunters could also find reductions at other pavilions, including Tajikistan.

The Central Asian nation offered discounts on some items but not all.

Saulloi Ismat said: “It’s not really a sale on everything, but we do have reductions on certain items.”

“For example, our dried fruits have been 25 per cent off since the beginning of March.”

He said the pavilion was in no hurry to offload its stock as quickly as possible, because they had plans for how it would be used once the world fair wound down.

“Everything that we don’t sell will be given away free to expo workers,” he said.

“We want to share our country with the people who have worked at expo.”

The Mozambique pavilion was also dropping the prices of certain items, most notably on wooden carvings handmade by families from the African country.

The biggest reductions were from Dh400 to Dh250 for the larger sculptures, with the smaller versions reduced from Dh250 to Dh150.