InfoAnda - Low visitor numbers dent Shanghai Expo's high hopes

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Singapore Asia Pacific World Low visitor numbers dent Shanghai Expo's high hopes AFP - 2 hours 43 minutes ago Send IM Story Print Low visitor numbers dent Shanghai Expo's high hopes SHANGHAI (AFP) - – Massive queues snake around the steel and glass pavilions, and signs warn of four-hour waits at key sites -- indications the first week of China's World Expo in Shanghai has been a huge success. But 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 -- nevertheless hopes it can set an Expo attendance record, topping the 64 million people who visited Osaka in 1970. Portia Luo, a 29-year-old secretary watching Mongolian musicians and Canadian aboriginal dancers perform at the site, said reports of big crowds and long waits in the hot sun had "definitely... scared some people" away. Across the river only a handful of visitors wandered through the city exhibits by London, Madrid, Hamburg and others highlighting how they are embracing the Expo's theme, "Better City, Better Life". 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. They have urged ticketholders not to wait until Expo's final weeks to show up, but 54-year-old retiree Jiang Lijun said she did not want to tackle the heat and would likely wait until at least September to visit with her family. "We saw too many media reports saying that there are very long queues at the Expo park," Jiang said outside a downtown shopping mall. Tough security also may have dampened tourists' enthusiasm. Authorities have insisted on rigorous searches in rail and subway stations, car inspections and major road traffic restrictions around the site. For those braving the first week of Expo, the lower-than-expected turnout meant lines were flowing smoothly at the site's hotspots by the end of the week. 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. Countries are seeking to improve the visitor experience, looking to benefit from positive word-of-mouth. At Colombia's pavilion, Mandarin voiceovers for films and narrated tours of exhibits about the country's beaches and coffee had been added in recent days. "This is all about entertaining people," said pavilion director Juan Pablo Cavelier. 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