World’s Fair Not Selling as Hoped

Facing huge deficits and far fewer visitors than hoped, the Expo 2000 world’s fair in Hanover, Germany, will slash ticket prices and step up advertising while dropping the original goal of selling 40 million tickets, officials said. The five-month world’s fair, Germany’s first, has attracted only 2.9 million visitors during the first five weeks, spokeswoman Wibke Bruhns said. From the fourth week to the fifth, the number of visitors dropped by 187,000 to 633,000. Bruhns attributed some of the decrease to school vacations, which have led to a drop in class visits.