Advance Osaka Expo ticket sales target seen unattainable

Tokyo, Japan — With one month to go before the start of the 2025 World Exposition in the western Japan city of Osaka, it seems unlikely that pre-event ticket sales will reach their target of 14 million.

Some 8.06 million tickets for the Osaka Expo, to be held on the artificial island of Yumeshima for 184 days from April 13, had been sold as of March 5, less than 60 percent of the target.

The Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, the organizer, has been struggling to sell tickets to individuals, with companies having purchased around 7 million tickets, according to people familiar with the matter.

READ: Beyond the brochures: Japan Travel Fair 2025 set to spark excitement for Filipino travelers

The Osaka Expo follows the 2005 event held in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. Osaka Prefecture will host an Expo for the second time after the one in 1970.

One month prior to the Aichi Expo, more than 5 million tickets had been sold to individuals and groups while companies had bought some 3 million.

The sluggish advance sales to individuals for the upcoming Expo can be traced to the complicated ticket buying procedure, which requires online purchasing and booking entrance time slots, in principle.

At a press conference in February, Hiroyuki Ishige, the association’s secretary-general, described the 14-million pre-event sales target as “ambitious and a high target” while expressing intention to keep intact the overall sales target of 23 million. Earlier the same month, the association said walk-up tickets will be sold at the event venue.

The total operating cost of the 2025 Expo, including labor and security expenses, is estimated at 116 billion yen. The association plans to raise 96.9 billion yen by selling 18.4 million tickets during the event, or 80 pct of the 23-million target.

A simple calculation suggests that the event will become profitable if more than 18.4 million tickets are sold.

Venue construction costs are to be shared by the central government, the Osaka prefectural government and the Osaka city government. But in case that the Expo logs the red ink, how to cover the losses has yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, a rehearsal before the event that is open to local residents free of charge received about 350,000 applications, ninefold the fixed number.

A senior association official expects that the participants in the pre-opening event will promote the Expo by telling others about their experiences in the event.