Expo Ticketing Policy Change with Effect from September 1, 2010

Ticket office at entrance Gate 9

According to the experiences of the previous world expositions, the number of visitors dramatically increased in the last 2 months for a last-minute rush. As the Shanghai Expo 2010 is approaching to its end, the Expo organizer has re-arranged the ticketing policy to control huge visitor crowds. Information from the official Shanghai Expo website indicated that the sales of standard-day admission tickets (160 yuan) would cease after August 31, 2010, and the 3-day (400 yuan) and 7-day (900 yuan) tickets had already been sold out. With effect from September 1, 2010, only intraday tickets will be available, and people can purchase them at Expo entrances. To avoid queues, visitors may use ticket vending machines on-site. After 4:00pm each day, visitors can also buy tickets for the following day. Intraday tickets include evening tickets (90 yuan) available from 4:00pm to 9:00pm and peak-day tickets (200 yuan) for the National Day Holiday (Oct 1 to 7, 2010) and the last week of the Expo (Oct 25 to 31, 2010).  (Source: Official Expo website http://en.expo2010.cn). Please refer to my blog dated May 4, 2010 for the classification of admission tickets. Peak day tickets are available at designed ticket sales agent such as Bank of Communications. For the local inquiry hotline on ticketing and the address for the official sales point, please refer to my blog dated July 31, 2010. Please note that there are limited numbers of peak-day ticket sales for a specific day. I heard that the peak-day tickets to be used on October 31, 2010 had already been sold out.

Ticket vending machine at Gate 9

Peak-day tickets should be used on a designed day within the above mentioned peak-day periods. For example, if you purchase a peak-day ticket to be used on October 1, 2010, you have to use it on that day or any day out of the peak-day periods. In other words, you can't use it from October 2 to 7 or 25 to 31, but you can use it from October 8 to 24 or any days in September. (Information sourced from the inquiry at the China Mobile Expo services desk when I was staying in Shanghai in July 2010. I again reconfirmed the information today by making a phone call inquiry to the China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited which is an official travel agent for the sales of Expo tickets in Hong Kong. As to date, standard-day tickets are still available at Hong Kong sales point.

The Classifications of the Expo Admission Tickets

The Shanghai Expo 2010 has been the largest exposition ever since. There are 189 countries and 57 international organizations participating in the Shanghai Expo 2010. Today (May 4, 2010) is the fourth day of the Expo. There were in total 143,000 visitors for today. The number of visitors significantly dropped when comparing with those on the first two days (Saturday and Sunday respectively). The China Pavilion remains to be the top focus among most visitors. There were still a large number of people asking for reservation tickets for the entry to the China Pavilion this morning. All tickets finished within 15 minutes.

To purchase Expo admission tickets, one should pay attention to the date of entry. Tickets are classified as Peak and Standard Days. Peak Days refer to May 1-3, 2010 (The Labor Day Holiday), October 1-7, 2010 (The National Day Holiday), and the last week before closing (October 25-30, 2010) with 17 days in total. All other days with a total of 167 days are classified as Standard Days. Please refer to the following table for ticket prices.

Classification	Price
Peak Day Single Day Admission	CNY200
Peak Day Special Admission	CNY120
Standard Day Single Day Admission	CNY160
Standard Day Special Admission	CNY100
3 Days Admission	CNY400
7 Days Admission	CNY900
Evening Admission	CNY90
Group Admission	For authorized travel agent
Student Group Admission	For authorized travel agent

US$1.00 roughly equivalent to CNY6.77

Special Admission Tickets are applicable to the disabled, senior citizens, students with valid IDs, children above 1.2m, and Chinese military on active duty. Valid IDs are required both at the time of purchase and visits. Children at or under 1.2m will be admitted freely but should be accompanied by at least one adult.

Source: http://www.expo2010.cn