Why Visitors Aren’t Flocking to the Osaka 2025 Expo
Costs for Osaka Expo 2025 keep rising — but the ticket sales needed to cover them aren’t happening. Will taxpayers be stuck with the bill?
Anticipation was high for the 2025 Osaka Expo, slated to run from April 13 to October 13, 2025 for 184 days. But contrary to the upbeat forecasts, the reality isn’t looking so rosy. Between construction setbacks, countries pulling out, and budget blowouts, a fresh hurdle has emerged — public interest is waning. With all the controversies surrounding the event, ticket sales are suffering.
Sales hitting rock bottom
Exactly one year before the grand opening of the 2025 Osaka-Kansai Expo, on April 13th, the Expo Association came clean about its sales struggles. They had launched pre-sales way back in November 2023, precisely 500 days ahead of the big day, with ambitious targets: 23 million tickets in total, half for the business community and half for the public.
However, interest dwindled from both sides. That’s left a mountain of tickets still up for grabs.
