12 hours ago
Osaka Expo ticket sales reach operating expense break-even point
OSAKA -- The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition on Aug. 11 announced that a total of 18,095,703 tickets to the Osaka Expo had been sold as of Aug. 8, surpassing the approximately 18 million tickets set as a guideline for the break-even point for operating expenses.
However, the association has not disclosed the final outlook for profitability of the Expo, which will continue until Oct. 13, as unforeseen expenses could arise due to disasters or other factors.
Operating costs for the Expo stand at approximately 116 billion yen (about $784.75 million), which goes toward staff wages and information and communication costs among other expenses. The plan is to cover around 80% of this through ticket sales. Although advance ticket sales struggled initially, they improved after the Expo's opening in April 2025, maintaining a pace of over 400,000 tickets per week.
The Expo association has set a final sales target of 23 million tickets. At a news conference on Aug. 5, the association's deputy secretary-general, Jun Takashina stated, "We will continue to promote the Expo's attractions and strive to sell as many tickets as possible to a wide audience."
(Japanese original by Tatsuya Naganuma, Osaka City News Department)
