About 1.7 million tickets to Shanghai World Expo have been sold since March 27. Ten percent of the tickets have been sold overseas, the Expo organizer said yesterday.
The organizer expects more than 70 million visitors will attend Expo. The tickets that have been sold already amount to a little more than 1 percent of the organizer's expectations.
More than 5,000 corporate and institutional buyers have bought the tickets. The public will be able to buy tickets from July 1.
Of the domestic buyers, about 90 percent were from Shanghai. Buyers in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Beijing accounted for 8 percent so far, according to figures from China's four major ticket agents, China Mobile, China Telecom, China Post and the Bank of Communications.
Chinese and foreign corporations and organizations that want to buy at least 30 tickets can still buy from the agents and another nine outlets outside the Chinese mainland.
A standard single-day ticket will cost 130 yuan (US$18.98), and a peak-day ticket 170 yuan until June 30, the end of the first sales phase. Both are 30 yuan less than the prices to be charged during Expo.
The public will be able to start buying tickets on July 1 at more than 2,000 outlets across the county. The price for a standard single-day ticket will rise to 140 yuan and a peak-day ticket 170 yuan.
People can dial the China Mobile hotline 12580 to book tickets ?English is available.
People will not need to show proof of identity when buying the tickets at authorized outlets, said Chen Zhuofu, director of the ticketing center of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.
He said people could buy as many tickets as they wished.
