Expo grounds to be open 15 hours per day

By Yang Jian and Tom Qian  |   2008-11-13  |     ONLINE EDITION

THE Shanghai World Expo site will be open 15 hours per day, organizers announced today at the third participation meeting in the city.

The grounds will be open daily from 9am to midnight although exhibitors will only be open daily from 9:30am to 10:30pm, organizers said.

Shanghai Expo organizers will decide on ticket reservations by the end of the year and complete a booking system by the middle of next year.

Thirty percent of Expo construction work has been finished and more than 1.5-million-square meters of exhibit halls and infrastructure projects had started as of the end of last month.

Nearly 700 representatives from 40 countries and organizations attended the participation meeting, which started today and ends tomorrow. It will be the last participation meeting for Shanghai Expo.

Expo 2010 starts on May 1, 2010 and ends on October 31, 2010.