The World Economic Forum (WEF), held in the Swiss city of Davos and known as the "Davos Forum," is considering changing its host city. If the venue changes, WEF's nickname could also change.
According to the Financial Times (FT) on the 21st, Larry Fink, BlackRock chair and interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum board, privately discussed plans to permanently move the WEF from Davos or rotate it among multiple cities.
Earlier, in a blog post, Chair Fink said, "You will see the WEF trying new things. Going to where the modern world is actually being made and listening," adding, "Davos, yes, but there are also places like Detroit, Dublin, Jakarta (Indonesia), and Buenos Aires (Argentina)."
As criticism grows that the Davos Forum is overly elite-centric and out of touch with reality, four sources said Fink concluded it is necessary to expand access beyond political and business leaders and is pushing to reorganize the forum.
Davos is a small resort town in the Swiss Alps that gained international recognition after the WEF began to be held there in 1981. Having served as the WEF host city for decades, Davos carries deep historical significance and is known to have contributed greatly to attracting tourism revenue and investment through the forum.
The reason the WEF is considering changing the host city is that the forum's continued growth has pushed the small town of Davos to the limits of its capacity. A shortage of accommodations, significant security expense, and limited physical infrastructure have been persistent problems for the Davos Forum. In fact, the number of attendees, which was only 444 in the early days, increased about sevenfold to around 3,000 from about 130 countries this year, including 64 heads of state and other top-level figures.
A senior executive, who faced three and a half hours of traffic congestion traveling to Davos for this week's event, said, "The WEF has already exceeded Davos' capacity."
It is not that the WEF has never been held outside Davos. In 2002, to show solidarity after the 9/11 attacks, it moved the venue to New York for one year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, holding it in Singapore was considered, but the discussion was later halted.
If the Davos Forum transfers to another location, the economic hit to Davos is expected to be significant. According to research by the University of St. Gallen, as of 2017 the WEF generated about 60 million francs (about 111 billion won) in revenue for the Davos regional economy. Bloomberg News said, "From the perspective of the city of Davos, if the forum permanently transfers, restaurants, bars, and hotels would lose the usual surge of visitors, dealing a major blow to the local economy."