World's Fairs not the draw they used to be

BERLIN - They're not staying too long at Germany's first-ever World's Fair - in fact, they're just not coming.

Just days after Expo 2000 opened to much hoopla in the central city of Hanover, organizers have broken their silence about disappointing ticket sales and are even having to let some workers go.

A temporary employment firm that provides staff for souvenir stands and other jobs at the fair said Tuesday that 123 have been sent home due to the lack of customers. An additional 416 workers were told Monday they are to be let go soon.

While Expo 2000 organizers were hoping to have 261,000 paying visitors a day to break even, the rate so far has averaged around 70,000. About 150,000 came the first day - but that number was inflated by free tickets given to Expo construction workers and students.

''We're not happy with the number of visitors, especially on the second, third and fourth day,'' Expo director Reinhard Volk said this week.

It was a similar story in 1998 at the last World's Fair in Lisbon, Portugal, which also had a slow start and ended far below visitor expectations and more than $300 million short of breaking even.

Portuguese officials predicted 140,000 people would attend on an average day, but only 25,000 showed up for the opening day and the numbers never got substantially higher.

And the trend has been definitely downward since the Montreal exhibition in 1967.

''The bottom line is that World Fairs hardly make sense these days,'' said one commentary in Germany's leading Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. ''Information about new products and machinery is passed on through other channels, or through trade fairs. The digital images which have deluged the public at recent Expos can now be downloaded elsewhere.''

The United States is here in cyberspace only, having set up a special Web site. It decided not to build a bricks and mortar pavilion after not enough corporate sponsors expressed interest in paying the bill.

Even before Expo 2000 opened, officials braced the public for disappointing figures.

''Don't expect in the first days or first weeks to have large numbers of the public coming,'' Gil Noghes, president of the Paris-based International Exhibitions Organization that choses World's Fair sites, said at a media preview last month. ''In the end, they will come in very large numbers.''

Even if the Hanover fair reaches its goal of 20 million to 25 million visitors by the time it closes Oct. 31, it would still lose about $195 million.

With the lagging attendance, the Expo's Volk said losses for the first weekend alone could reach $5.7 million, adding that ''countermeasures'' would be considered if things don't start picking up by week's end.

However, he ruled out cutting ticket prices, which range up to $42 each. The price is ''absolutely market-justified'' considering all the Expo has to offer, he said. Carrying on a tradition begun in 1851, the Hanover fair features exhibits by 155 countries plus Germany.

Klaus Zwickel, the head of the Germany's IG Metall union and a member of the Expo's board, called on organizers to reduce ticket prices.

''The entrance price is indeed high and therefore many people hesitate to visit the Expo,'' he told the Bild newspaper.

Lisbon officials eventually cut ticket prices for their Expo, but in the end still had only 10 million visitors, well below the 15 million predicted.