Public stays away from Expo

No queues at the Expo kiosks

By Patrick Bartlett in Frankfurt

Less than a week after Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder hailed the opening of the Expo 2000 in Hanover, the World Trade Fair is facing a financial crisis.

Ticket sales have been well below expectation with fewer than a third of the hoped for number of visitors.

The exhibition has so far not drawn the crowds

Some German commentators are already describing the Expo, the biggest event ever staged in Germany, as an embarrassing flop.

They had been hoping for 40 million visitors over the next five months but to judge by the first week the Expo 2000 will be lucky to get half that number.

Job cuts

The fair is estimated to have lost at least $5 million over the first weekend alone.

Already more than a 100 EXPO workers have been laid off. Several hundred more, mostly souvenir sellers, are at risk.

Television pictures of empty boulevards and forlorn looking participants have added to the sense of crisis.

To make matters worse a strike by transport workers threatens to disrupt train services to the Expo.

Technical problems

Just a week ago Chancellor Schroeder hailed the fair as an opportunity for Germany to present a new self-confident image to the world.

Expo aims to present a self confident Germany

At a special gala dinner he said the Expo would bring nations together to solve the dramatic technological challenges facing the planet.

But since its opening the Expo has itself had to solve technical problems with its electronic ticket system.

So far Expo managers have resisted calls for reductions in ticket prices, currently around US$35 (about 70 DM) for an adult.

They say they're confident visitor numbers will rise when the school holidays begin next month and point out that other successful Expos also had disappointing starts.