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The Shanghai World Expo 2010 yesterday reached a milestone of 70 million visitors since its opening on 1st May.

The number reached predications made the Expo organizers before its opening.

Total visitor arrivals broke the 70 million mark as of 10:17 am. Sunday and by 1:30 pm some 572,900 visitors had entered the Expo Park on the day, the 177th day since the event started, bringing the total number of visitors to 70.28 million.

"The news is exciting and it's also encouraging for the organizers," said an official with the Bureau of the Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

During the eight years since China successfully won the bid to host the 2010 Expo, Vicente Loscertales, Secretary-General of the International Exposition Bureau (BIE), has been asked again and again what's the value of the World Expo when people can get so much information about countries and trade from the Internet.

The Shanghai Expo, the first such global event hosted by a developing country in the history of the World Expo, shows to the world that such an event is still relevant, as the huge number of visitors illustrate.

Loscertale stated â(China has) have achieved new records: a record number of participants, a record number of visitors, and you have built the largest site ever.

"I thought Canada was pretty amazing. Not to mention Italy and France, and you just have to go to Thailand!"

"How far is it from Morocco to Monaco exactly?" ... this kind of conversation can be frequently heard at the Expo site.

People wait in long queues outside the different pavilions, sometimes for 12 hours.

Sheng Banghe, a sociologist at the Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said what the Chinese are pursuing is no longer at the material level, but the spiritual, stating âthey are not satisfied with their current knowledge and entertainment.

The Shanghai Expo has enjoyed participants from 246 countries and international organisations. It also set a record for the maximum attendance on a single day on 16th October with 1.03 million people visiting it then.

Loscertales said the overwhelming success of Shanghai Expo 2010 will inspire future hosts of the event.

Already some countries have showed willingness to host the 2020 World Expo, including Thailand.

During the last week of the Expo, from 25th October daily visitor numbers will be limited to 400,000 to 500,000, said Huang Jianzhi, Deputy Director General of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination on 16th October.

Organisers promised to continue to improve their service to visitors until the last day, and make it a "successful, splendid and unforgettable" Expo.

Image credit: Xinhua.

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