Long Queues but Fears of Low Numbers at Shanghai Expo

With massive queues waiting to enter its steel and glass pavilions, and with signs warning of four-hour waits at key sites, the Shanghai World Expo seems to set to be a huge success.

Yet organisers of the six-month event, launched with great fanfare including a star-studded party and a mammoth fireworks show along the Huangpu river, are worried they will fail to draw the 70 million visitors they have predicted.

"If the situation continues, we will take measures to increase the flow of visitors," an Expo official who did not want to be named was quoted as saying by the Global Times newspaper.

The Expo, a display of culture, ideas and technology from 189 countries and dozens of companies, is seen as a showcase of China's growing political and economic clout.

Organisers have repeatedly given the magic attendance number of 70 million as the hallmark of success, but so far, turnout has fallen far short of the daily average of 380,000 needed to meet that goal.

Even though all 500,000 opening day tickets were sold out, only 207,000 people came. Organisers who keenly offered hourly attendance updates at the outset are now only giving daily figures.

Shanghai, keen to show the world it is a cosmopolitan city on a par with London and New York, hopes it can set an Expo attendance record, topping the 64 million people who visited Osaka in 1970.

However, media reports of big crowds and long waits in the hot sun had, according to one visitor "scared some people" while small numbers have visited some international exhibits.

More than 33 million tickets have been sold and the Shanghai government plans to give a free ticket to each household in the city, boosting potential attendance so far to 40 million, organisers say.

After the China pavilion, the most popular venues on the opening weekend were the Swiss, French, German, Spanish, British, Italian, Japanese and South Korean pavilions, organisers said. The US pavilion is also drawing crowds.

Shanghai authorities are urging ticketholders not to wait until Expo's final weeks to attend.
With AFP

Image: Night view of an illuminated 'sun valley' structure, part of the Expo Axis complex, Expo Shanghai 2010, Shanghai. Credit: Gary718/Shutterstock.com