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Visitors expected to soar along with mercury

Updated: 2010-06-02 13:04

 

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Attendance at Expo 2010 Shanghai will continue to rise in June as organizers gear up to combat extreme weather conditions when summer descends on the city.

At a press conference on Monday, bureau chief of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Hong Hao, said Expo organizers are preparing to receive an even larger number of visitors in June and were taking measures to tackle high temperatures, the rainy season and typhoons.

Since ticket sales opened in March 2009, some 40 million tickets have been snapped up as yet and more than 8 million people have entered through the Expo Garden gates.

"Clearly, there are a large number of potential visitors," Hong said.

Another 3 million local residents are expected to visit the Expo in June, thanks to a program by means of which Shanghai residents, who have put up with years of inconvenience caused by the construction of new roads, subway lines and other Expo-related infrastructure, will be given free tickets to the six-month fair and other gifts.

Hong said organizers will also strengthen monitoring on the number of people visiting the Expo Garden.

Services and infrastructure will be improved, especially with regard to maintenance, supply of food and water, and public transportation at the venue.

Hong said organizers would reevaluate the safety of some popular performances and readjust security measures two days after a concert by South Korean pop singers led to chaos and confusion during the distribution of tickets at the Garden.

"The safety of visitors is our top priority all the time," Hong said. "We always feel responsible for them."

He said there were no major injuries on May 30, when thousands of fans scrambled for free tickets to a performance by Korean artists, including Super Junior. Dozens of people suffered minor injuries, such as bruising and sprains.

The organizers will put in place a more orderly approach in the distribution of tickets to Expo performances in the future, Hong said.

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（中國日報(bào)網(wǎng)英語點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

Todd Balazovic is a reporter for the Metro Section of China Daily. Born in Mineapolis Minnesota in the US, he graduated from Central Michigan University and has worked for the China daily for one year.