Expo beats expectations with 1.5 million visits in first 24 days

The latest figures from Expo 2020 Dubai show the event has recorded about 1.5 million visits since its opening day.

The world’s fair reported 1,471,314 visits in its first 24 days. Before the weekend, ticketed visits were well on course to reach the one-million milestone – with 771,477 recorded between October 1 and October 17.

Over the past seven days, Expo welcomed 699,837 more visitors, exceeding expectations.

Space Week was a strong draw, featuring nebula music, stargazing and a chance for visitors to hear from the UAE’s first astronauts – Hazza Al Mansouri, the first Emirati in space, and Nora Al Matrooshi, the first female Emirati astronaut.

The UAE’s Al Fursan aerobatic display team and their Saudi counterparts, the Saudi Falcons, put on a heart-stopping show in the skies above the Expo site.

Al Wasl dome drew large crowds to its spectacular spacethemed projection show

Children made up about a quarter of visits as pupils enjoyed their half-term school break.

Activities on offer at Expo included football sessions hosted by coaches from Manchester City.

The long weekend had a packed itinerary to entertain the high numbers of expected guests, including the debut performance of the all-women Firdaus Orchestra put together by Indian maestro A R Rahman.

Regular events have also been consistently drawing crowds.

These include the Kaleidoscope evening light festival, the Expo 2020 Water Feature and the Garden in the Sky, which offers a 360-degree view of the site.

The digital audience also continues to grow, with the number of online visits rising to 10.8 million, an increase of 1.5 million over the past week.