Yumeshima’s post-Expo future may include Formula One

Thursday 14th of February 2019

Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura revealed in an interview with the Sankei Shinbun that he envisions attracting Formula One racing to Yumeshima after the 2025 World Expo is completed.

This is only one part of the rapidly emerging vision for the man-made island, and how it may impact the local economy.

“The World Expo will last only about half a year, but even afterwards we must make use of its legacy,” Yoshimura told the newspaper. He added, “We want to create a high-value area in which business is facilitated, and within which people and things and money of the world gathers.”

To this end, he wants roads to be built at Yumeshima of the proper specifications to host Formula One racing in the years after 2025.

The Osaka prefectural and city governments have also been sketching out their economic projections for the post-Expo future.

The local government now anticipates that the IR alone will create 88,000 new jobs in the regional economy and produce annual economic ripple effects of close to JPY760 billion (about $6.9 billion). They also expect that the IR will produce about JPY70 billion (about $635 million) in annual revenues directly for the local government coffers.

As for the IR itself, which will initially occupy 60 hectares on the northern part of Yumeshima, they expect that the winning consortium will end up investing about JPY930 billion (about $8.5 billion) in this phase of the project, and that the number of annual visitors will reach nearly 25 million people.