There has been international success for an Isle of Wight company which created site maps, guidebooks and other publications for the Covid-delayed Expo 2020 in Dubai.

Cowes-based Medina Publishing created literature for the six month-long event, which ran between October 2021 and March 31, 2022, welcoming around 20 million visitors.

Pavilions, restaurants and 30,000 live events were the attractions over a 1,083-acre site in Dubai.

Medina Publishing produced two million fold-out maps on sustainable, wood-free paper, in English and Arabic, while robots distributed some of them free to visitors and others were on hand to pick up at kiosks.

Isle of Wight County Press: Medina Publishing's products on display in Dubai.Medina Publishing's products on display in Dubai.

The company also produced the 360-page visitor guide, featuring 227 country and sponsor profiles, event information, infographics, photographs and custom-made maps.

In all, 55,000 were printed, in English and Arabic, and they were sold at the event.

Medina Publishing also produced a five volume children's book, called Children’s Tales from Around the World, as well as Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things, which covered hundreds community initiatives supported by Expo 2020.

Isle of Wight County Press: Children reading at Dubai's Expo 2020.Children reading at Dubai's Expo 2020.

Former UAE resident, Medina Publishing's Chris Capstick and the company's Dubai-based Jeff Eamon helped deliver the project.

Medina Publishing MD, Peter Harrigan, said: "It was a real privilege for us to work with the Expo team.

"As the curtain falls on this hugely successful event, we now turn our attention to launching six other titles related to the Arabian Peninsula, as well as new books related to our home on the Isle of Wight." 

Established in 2009, Medina Publishing is an Isle of Wight-based independent publishing company.