Crowds, heat pose challenges as Osaka Expo reaches midway point
OSAKA - July 13 marked three months since the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo opened, and ticket sales have remained strong with more than 10 million visitors.
With the possibility of making a profit in sight, the event, which is now halfway through its run, is now facing the challenges of crowds and heat.
'We are, in general, making good progress,' said Mr Hiroyuki Ishige, secretary general of the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, at a press conference on July 14. 'The summer holiday season is the key to success, and we'd like to increase the number of visitors.'
Before the Expo opened April 13, advanced tickets were not selling well, and since the details of what the pavilions would display was not disclosed, many pointed out that they were not sure what the main attractions were.
However, public interest has since grown as the actual experiences of visitors started spreading on social media. Since then, about 2 million admission tickets have been sold per month, bringing the total to 15.98 million as of July 12.
The association plans to use the revenue from admission ticket sales to cover 83 per cent, or 96.9 billion yen (S$840 million), of the 116 billion yen it costs to run the Expo.
It is estimated that 18 million tickets need to be sold in order for the Expo to break even, and the actual sales are close to 90 per cent of that figure. At this pace, the Expo could turn a profit as early as within August.
By July 12, more than 10 million people visited the Expo, bringing the cumulative total to 10.11 million.
The daily average for the number of visitors was 110,000. But earlier in July, when it was starting to really get hot, there were less than 100,000 visitors on some days.
The association is aiming for an average of 130,000 visitors per day in the second half of the Expo run to stabilise revenues.
The key to achieving this goal will be to reduce congestion.
The association introduced an online reservation system to visit pavilions at certain times and dates and has touted the event as a 'line-free Expo'.
However, in reality, many of the pavilions for other countries do not use the reservation system, so visitors to the more popular of these pavilions, such as the Italy Pavilion and the USA Pavilion, sometimes have to wait several hours.
In addition, as the Expo does not have a lot of shaded areas, visitors have to wait in the sun. As of July 20, 20 people were reported to have suffered heatstroke or suspected to have suffered heatstroke in July, when the
daily high temperatures for Osaka City, where the Expo is located, have been about 35 deg C.
The association has installed fans with a misting spray and other devices at various locations, and parasols are available for rent in front of the entrance gate.
To ease daytime crowds, the association plans to encourage visitors to come later in the evening, when it is slightly cooler, through such means as holding fireworks shows — previously only held once or twice a month — every day from July 12 through the end of August and setting up a beer garden.
At previous expos, the number of visitors tended to increase in the second half of their run, and there is a concern that the crowds will become more intense.
'We'd like to encourage visitors to come before the late stage of the (Expo's duration) to try and disperse the crowds,' said an association official.
It is also necessary to increase the number of visitors who do not live near the Expo.
According to the association, 67.5 per cent of domestic visitors have come from the Kinki region, 15.5 per cent from the Kanto region, 2.4 per cent from Kyushu and 0.8 per cent from the Tohoku region. Visitors from overseas account for 9 per cent of the total.
As people tend to travel more during the summer, the association sees it as an opportunity to increase the number of visitors from distant regions and intends to strengthen its communication through social media and other means. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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