Visitors to Osaka Expo likely to exceed 10 million soon

Japan Times

2 days ago

General visitors to the World Expo in Osaka are expected to exceed 10 million on Sunday, which marks the halfway point of the six-month event which began on April 13.
As the number of visitors tends to surge when popular events such as firework displays are held, more people may visit the Expo during the upcoming summer vacation season as well as during the event's final months.
The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition is working to reach its target of 22 million visitors, the Osaka Expo's break-even point in terms of operating costs.
On Saturday, many people visited the Expo site to watch a performance by the Air Self-Defense Force's Blue Impulse aerobatic team. The Blue Impulse performance was originally scheduled for the Expo's opening day but had to be rescheduled due to bad weather.
As of Friday, the highest daily number of visitors has been 185,000, recorded on June 28, when a fireworks event was held.
"Many people are really enjoying the Expo," Hirofumi Yoshimura, governor of Osaka Prefecture, said.
The association expects the Expo to attract a total of 28.2 million visitors. At its board meeting on June 23, the association set 22 million visitors as the break-even point for Expo operating costs. The board showed a policy to aim for at least 130,000 visitors per day on average.
But the cumulative number of general visitors stood at some 9.9 million as of Friday, about 45% of the estimated break-even figure, according to preliminary data. During the 18-day period between June 24 and Friday, the number of general visitors topped 130,000 only on four days, apparently due to reasons such as the scorching heat.
Meanwhile, the daily number may peak to top 220,000 in the late stages of the Expo. Partly by holding a popular fireworks event every day during the summer holiday period, the association hopes to prevent large crowds from gathering at the Expo venue on specific dates.
Sales of Expo admission tickets started to gain momentum after its opening as interest grew due to visitor reviews posted on social media. As of July 4, total ticket sales, including of advance tickets, reached approximately 15.54 million, exceeding 80% of the 18.4 million needed for the event to break even.
The number of tickets sold per week has largely remained above 400,000 recently. "Sales continue to be strong," an association executive said.
Still, "sales could decline if visitor satisfaction drops," the official warned. "We will make further efforts to ensure that sales continue to grow steadily."
The association has urged admission ticket holders to make reservations early for entry to the Expo venue. If the number of applicants exceeds the venue's maximum capacity, some may be unable to enter.
In principle, visitors are required to reserve a date and time after purchasing admission tickets. However, many ticket holders have yet to make their reservations, according to the association.
"A World Expo usually becomes more crowded in the latter half of the period, so we encourage people with tickets to come early," Masakazu Tokura, head of the association, said.