Holders of standard tickets will be allowed to visit the World Expo during the National Day holiday from October 1 to7 if they pay an additional CNY40, the organizers said. The policy has sparked complaints from some peak-day ticket holders. They said the new policy was unfair as they had spent more money to attend the Expo on a day fewer visitors were expected. A limit of 350,000 peak day tickets — 50,000 less than the site’s average daily attendance — were issued for each peak day to avoid overcrowding. Holders of peak-day tickets complained that if standard ticket holders are allowed in the Expo if paying the surcharge, it would be too crowded. On the other hand, standard-ticket holders had complained that October had too few days available for a visit.

More than 600,000 people visited the Expo on September 23 – Mid-Autumn Festival – breaking the record of 568,300 set on August 21 and reaching the daily limit set by the Expo bureau, but the Bureau said it would not stop visitors from entering the site as previously envisioned because the site proved capable of handling more visitors. Attendance reached 631,100 at 9 pm.

Hsinchu city in Taiwan has bought the Taiwan Pavilion for nearly NTD459 million and will rebuild it there after the Shanghai World Expo ends. The city won the tender after competing with Miaoli county and Haur Luen Enterprise, a stationery manufacturer in Taichung county. The final price was USD1.32 million higher than the minimum price set by the Taipei World Trade Center, the pavilion’s operator. The dismantling and rebuilding cost was estimated at USD6.3 million. Yang Ming Marine Transport has donated USD15.75 million to ship the pavilion to Taiwan. The 658 square meter pavilion, designed by C. Y. Lee, designer of the 508 m skyscraper Taipei 101, is one of the most popular pavilions at the Expo.

Expo tickets for the month of October are in high demand, with two dates in particular — October 1 (China’s National Day and China Pavilion Day) and October 31 (the date of the closing ceremony) — being the most popular. “Based on the current statistics, 18 million visitors have purchased Expo tickets but haven’t come yet, which puts more pressure on Expo traffic before it closes,” said a Spokesperson for the China Youth Travel Service in Anhui province. Therefore, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination might limit the supply of tickets to tour groups in October. Visitors are expected to flock back to the Expo after a temporary decrease in visitors during the last week of August due to the typhoon weather and schools starting. “October will be the highest peak in terms of traffic during the half-year event, with an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 visitors per day,” said Tang Yibo of Ctrip, a leading online travel agency in China. Tickets for the Expo’s closing ceremony on October 31 are in short supply nationwide.

Corporate pavilions and the Urban Best Practices Area in Puxi are attracting more visitors in the fifth month of the Shanghai World Expo. In earlier months, the national pavilions on the Pudong side of the Expo received the most visitors. The China State Shipbuilding Corporate Pavilion became the first on the Puxi side of the Expo site to attract 5 million visitors. Gong Hanming, the Pavilion’s Vice Director, said nearly 40,000 visitors enter every day, up from the 10,000 plus in May. Gong said they have improved service and offered more activities to attract people to the pavilion. The Oil Pavilion has surpassed the Saudi Arabia Pavilion for the longest wait to enter after visitors gave thumbs up reviews to its 4D movie, the Shanghai Daily reports.