World Expo attendance falls short

World Expo attendance fell short of expectations in the first six days of the mega event, state media reported. While early estimates put the number of Expo visitors at 70 million throughout the event’s six months – meaning 380,000 visitors per day – the official Expo website states that only 105,600 people walked through the turnstiles on Thursday. In the first six days, total attendance reached 902,300. The upside to the low numbers has been a more "comfortable experience" and relief from long lines, although attendees still complained about waits of up to three hours for popular venues including the China, France, UK and Japan pavilions. The number of visitors to the Shanghai Expo is now projected to exceed 40 million, although officials still hope to see the figure surpass that of the 1970 Expo in Osaka, which recorded 64 million attendees.