Expo attendance falls short

• Source: Global Times
• [02:37 May 05 2010]
• Comments

Performers wearing Chinese traditional opera costumes dance in front of the Chinese Pavilion, the Crown of the East, in Shanghai Tuesday. The city of Beijing began its week-long culture show Tuesday, marking the start of the showcase for Chinese elements at the expo. Photo: CFP

By Song Shengxia

Attendance at the World Expo in Shanghai, in its first four days since opening, has fallen short of expectations, adding new concerns for organizers who have been already troubled by complaints about long queues and a lack of affordable food options.

Tuesday was the first unofficial day of the Shanghai World Expo when visitors who hold standard tickets or appointed, unused day tickets could visit the Expo Park.

A total of 146,100 visitors showed up at the park Tuesday, slightly more than Sunday.

Organizers forecast an influx of 70 million visitors, mostly Chinese, over the next six months. To achieve this target, an average of 380,000 people need to visit the site daily.

So far, the highest attendance was on Sunday, with 215,000. On Monday, the last day of the long public holiday, only 131,700 people, the lowest level so far, showed up at the site.

Although officials said about 1,050,000 tickets for the three opening days had been sold, only half of that number showed up.

Speaking at Sunday's press conference, Hong Hao, director-general of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, said the lower-than-expected visitor numbers relieved the pressure on public security and service maintenance.

Hao attributed the lower-than-expected number of visitors to the high temperature and the fact that many visitors holding appointed day tickets postponed their visit for fear of a big crowd during the public holidays.

About 26 visitors suffered from heatstroke on Sunday, with the daytime mercury hit-ting 30 degrees Celsius, and another 56 visitors were injured in various incidents.

Despite the fewer than expected visitors in the first three days, Hao expected more visi-tors to arrive in the coming days.

To ensure the smooth operation of the first unofficial open day, the organizers imple-mented further measures to divert visitors to entrances with shorter queues, including issuing reservation tickets for the China Pavilion at all gates, he said.

In the past, the event has not always guaranteed a financial success for its host country. The 1984 expo hosted by New Orleans declared bankruptcy during its run, the 1992 Seville Expo in Spain was said to post $300 million deficit, but Aichi Expo in Japan reaped a profit of 5 billion yen ($53 million).

Luring visitors to the event is always a daunting task for any organizer as the sales of tickets can generate the biggest revenues.

An online poll conducted by ifeng.com Tuesday showed that more than 64 percent of 43,350 respondents were not planning to visit Shanghai during the Expo.

Mo Jihong, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said organizers have to crank up promotion for the expo in an effort to lure more visitors to Shanghai.

"I don't think the attendance will reach the organizers' target based on the number of visitors in the first three days. Organizers have to let people know more about the expo," he said, adding the attendance rate for the expo is likely to go up during the summer vacation when students swell visitor numbers.

Yu Mingyang, a professor of brand marketing at Shanghai Jiaotong University, told the Global Times Tuesday that it appeared that Expo organizers were not well prepared for a high attendance.

"Organizers have to make more emergency preparations in the future," he said, adding that with summer in full swing in two months, challenges could be even greater when temperatures reach 40 C.

He Xing, a lecturer at the Shanghai University of Technology, who has an appointed ticket but delayed a visit during the three opening days, told the Global Times that the appeal of the Expo appears less impressive because the information age allows people to exchange information instantly with a click of a mouse

However, he still expects to visit the park outside peak time.