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Expo Milano

Expo Milano

Old Feb 4, 2015, 10:40 pm
  #16  
 
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It's indeed the worlds fair. Admittedly, the organizers have done the worst job advertising. For example, it has to be explained...the word EXPO seems to be nebulous and doesn't have the same impact in some countries as it does in others.

Over one hundred countries will be represented, in their own pavilions. This year's theme is environment friendly/green energy. If youre in Milano and happen to have an extra day, it would be interesting to see, but I doubt much more time would be required.

I attended the 2005 expo in Japan. It was interesting.
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Old Mar 14, 2015, 3:27 pm
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EXPO Milano 2015

Hi all, is anyone planning to attend the world expo between May and October in Milan? I am wondering how heavily the event is being advertised in Italy and Europe and what I can expect at the Expo itself.
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Old Mar 16, 2015, 8:38 pm
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I was at the expo in Shanghai, and while the lines were horrendous (6+ hours to get into the Japan pavilion and 10 hours to get into the Saudi Arabian pavilion, from what I found out at the New York Times travel show, the expo organizers have learned their lesson and they are supposedly going with an open walkthrough concept in Milan in order to avoid lines altogether. Hope this actually ends up being the case.
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Old Apr 18, 2015, 6:48 am
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Things don't seem to be going as smoothly as planned. Traveling to Milan next month for the Expo; hope they get it together.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...0N30NB20150412
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Old Apr 21, 2015, 12:13 pm
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We were just there (returned home yesterday) and nothing for the expo is close to being done. Our guide was showing us all of the unfinished parts.
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Old Apr 22, 2015, 1:51 am
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To date 1 out 3 pavilion can be said finished.
The fact that the President of the Republic will skip the opening ceremony tells me something. Nevertheless the presale ticketing is rolling quite good.
I'll be there in June.
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Old Apr 25, 2015, 6:34 pm
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New article about the Expo, "hotels are alarmed," there is risk of, "a flop on a global scale."

http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/impre...o-074054.shtml

Allarme hotel e turisti stranieri per l’Expo. A pochi giorni dall’avvio dell’Esposizione universale il bilancio delle prenotazioni deludente. Si doveva fare di pi denuncia Giorgio Palmucci, presidente di Confindustria alberghi nel corso di un convegno organizzato dall’associazione nel capoluogo lombardo per fare il punto sul grado di preparazione di Milano e della ricettivit alberghiera.

Hotels and foreign tourists are alarmed about the Expo. "Only a few days from opening the Expo the number of reservations is disappointing. They should have done more," denounced Giorgio Palmucci, President of the Hotel Association at a conference to review the progress of the city of Milan and the receptivity of hotels.

Il punto vero che ci sono stati troppi errori - aggiunge Palmucci -. L’Enit , a corto di risorse, non ha potuto investire per promuovere Expo sui mercati internazionali. Al tempo stesso la societ Explora collegata ad Expo, che ha proprio l’obiettivo della promozione turistrica evidentemente non ha raggiunto risultati apprezzabili. Fatto sta che a pochi giorni il livello delle prenotazioni basso. Servono interventi urgenti altrimenti rischiamo un flop su scala globale. E non diamo la colpa ai prezzi degli hotel che sono in linea con la media di sempre, semmai sono in ribasso visto lo scenario.

"The real point is, they made too many errors," added Palmucci. "ENIT the national tourism agency, because of a shortage of resources, couldn't invest in promoting the Expo to the international markets. At the same time, Explora, the agency responsible for promoting the Expo to tourists, evidently hasn't had any appreciable results. The fact is, it's only a few days away and the level of reservations is low. They better urgently intervene or else we risk having a flop on a global scale. And don't blame it on the prices of the hotels, which are in line with their average price, or perhaps even lower, having seen the scenario."

Le preoccupazioni di Palmucci trovano riscontro nelle indagini presentate ieri nel corso del convegno. Come ha sottolineato Renato Mannheimer, ilustrando i dati di una indagine Eumetra, un italiano su due ha un orientamento negativo verso Expo.

Palmucci's worries were revealed in surveys presented at the conference. As underlined by Renato Mannheimer who showed data from a survey performed by Eumetra, which showed that one out of every two Italians has a negative attitude towards the Expo.

Valentina Quattro, manager di TripAdvisor ha riconosciuto un apprezzabile interesse di italiani e stanieri verso Milano ma ha anche messo in evidenza che, valutando il contesto turistico, Milano perde la sfida con gli altri grandi centri europei come Parigi o Berlino. Insomma, come ha sottolinerato Palmucci, la sfida dell’Expo per gli hotel si presenta complessa cos come la valutazione dei turisti sui servizi ricettivi denota una diffusa complessit.

Valentina Quattro, manager of TripAdvisor recognized appreciable interest by italians and foreigners in Milan, but that it is also evident that in its touristic value, Milan loses the challenge against other grand european centers of tourism like Paris or Berlin. In sum, as Palmucci underlined, the challenge of the Expo for hotels is complex, just as is the value that tourists place on the services they receive, which denotes widespread complexity.

Del resto anche altre analisi diffuse in questi giorni mettono in evidenza un quadro a due velocit . Da Trivago.com segnalano che per la prima settimana di maggio (Expo apre i battenti il 1 maggio) i dati mostrano una percentuale di hotel ancora disponibili per la prenotazione online pari al 60%, con prezzi medi per chi cerca una camera in questi giorni pari a 237€ a notte per una doppia. Non si rileva un'esplosione delle prenotazioni - rilevano da Trivago.com -. La disponibilit al 60% si confronta con dati medi di disponibilit online molto pi bassi altrove: Roma (34%), Firenze (38%) e Venezia (23%).

Other widespread analyses in these days make it evident that there is a two tiered tourism framework. The one from Trivago.com signals that for the first week of May (the Expo starts May 1) the percentage of hotels still available for online reservations appears to be 60%, with an average price of 237 euros per night for those looking for a double. "This does not reveal an explosion in reservations found by Trivago.com. An availability of 60% is compared with the fact that that the average availability online is much lower elsewhere: Rome (34%), Florence (38%) and Venice (23%).

Si segnala invece un boom di ospitalit “casalinga”: Airbnb ha censito oltre 7.600 spazi disponibili con prenotazioni in aumento del 293%.

There is instead signs of a boom in home rentals. An Airbnb showed that there are over 7,600 available spaces, with reservations increased by 293%.

Last edited by Perche; Apr 26, 2015 at 6:37 pm
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Old May 1, 2015, 7:18 pm
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Having just watched the Italian TV news, I'd have to say that I hope the Expo does well. There was a beautiful, heart-warming commercial about its theme of food.

The very long commercial showed really poor people struggling to grow or hunt for food. It showed many starving people. It showed people in some countries being whipped for not harvesting enough food for their landowners.

Then the Pope, who I don't think was actually there, read a statement about how the Expo provides a propitious moment to call attention to the fact that there is plenty of food to go around, that there is no reason why people in the world should have to be hungry, and the only problem is that the food is all concentrated in a few places, where much of it is thrown away.

Then, they cut to inside the Expo itself, and that bombed. They did a, stop-a-person-at-the-Expo, "street interview," series. The only problem was, there was almost no one at the Expo to stop, despite it being opening day. The place was almost empty. They went to the Austrian and Swiss pavilions, right next door to Italy, where people could day trip from. They would stop one person, then wait for a minute for another person to come passing by. It wasn't empty, by any means, but I would say that it there was only maybe 5-15 people per pavilion, on opening day?

Then there was a speech by Prime Minister Renzi, who I also don't think was actually there, who basically said that the Expo demonstrates that Italy is not just a country about the past, but is also about the future, as it is showing concern about how to feed future people.

Given the commercial that indicated that the Expo chose food as a theme because they want to end world hunger, I hope it is very successful. However, I've been suspicious from the beginning that this was just another attempt at drumming up business for Milan, and there are better places in Italy to visit. Since today was opening day and the place was pretty empty even though there was just light rain, it doesn't seem to be going well. I suspect that it will pick up a lot with the tourism season.

Unfortunately, there are already news stories popping up indicating that similar to MOSE in Venice, the Expo has lined a lot of Milanese politicians pockets, and has very little to do with world hunger.

Last edited by Perche; May 1, 2015 at 8:36 pm
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Old May 2, 2015, 1:44 am
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Renzi was there and inaugurated the official opening.
It wasn't empty at all (200k partecipants with a day limit of 250k) and reported overall 10 million tickets sold with a target of 20 million.

The event, location and pavillions look attractive, can't wait to visit.
The main boulevard, called Decumano, is long 1,5Km leading to the exposition areas and clusters of the 145 partecipating countries.
Free shuttles depart either from MXP and LIN.

Note: oddly Australia, Canada, New Zealand and all Scandinavians did not join the event.
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Old May 2, 2015, 4:41 pm
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Originally Posted by Forrest Bump
Renzi was there and inaugurated the official opening.
It wasn't empty at all (200k partecipants with a day limit of 250k) and reported overall 10 million tickets sold with a target of 20 million.

The event, location and pavillions look attractive, can't wait to visit.
The main boulevard, called Decumano, is long 1,5Km leading to the exposition areas and clusters of the 145 partecipating countries.
Free shuttles depart either from MXP and LIN.

Note: oddly Australia, Canada, New Zealand and all Scandinavians did not join the event.
Sure looked empty on TV. Maybe this is why. 30,000 people rioting against the Expo in Milan, Molotov cocktails, etc: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=...=0-0&sp=-1&sk=

You can stroll through these picture in today's paper and decide if it looks full. http://milano.corriere.it/foto-galle...d89c3055.shtml

Last edited by Perche; May 2, 2015 at 6:15 pm
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Old May 3, 2015, 12:22 am
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Those are vandals and nothing have to do with EXPO. They would be there for EXPO, G8, football match, Labor day, a new McDonald and whenever their wretched life on daddy's dime can take them.

Considering the bad press at home and virtually ignored abroad, numbers look consistent and promising.
Unless Sala is pretenting, 11mio tix sold so far.
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Old May 4, 2015, 8:35 am
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Any tips on places/areas to stay in Milan for Expo-visiting? Looks like hotels have hiked up their prices significantly in anticipation of the crowds. Airbnb might be a good alternative.
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Old May 4, 2015, 10:00 am
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Originally Posted by speedlog
Any tips on places/areas to stay in Milan for Expo-visiting? Looks like hotels have hiked up their prices significantly in anticipation of the crowds. Airbnb might be a good alternative.
I will do a day trip just to skip this.
Airbnb is a good option, since the price hike scientifically planned by hotels is unlikely to be replicated, at least on the same magnitude, by private owners.
From Milan city center to Rho-Fiera the metro takes 25' (line 1 - red). I'd pick a location considering the proximity with the metro.
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Old May 25, 2015, 5:42 pm
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I've been visiting Expo the last couple of days. A few things are still unfinished, but for the most part it's very well done and should be considered a must-see for anyone in the area between now and October.
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Old May 25, 2015, 8:10 pm
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Originally Posted by thewayofthefuture
I've been visiting Expo the last couple of days. A few things are still unfinished, but for the most part it's very well done and should be considered a must-see for anyone in the area between now and October.
I would love to hear what you enjoyed the most. I will have a day or two to devote to it and need to figure out how to spend my time. I've been following the FaceBook page and am so many pavilions look impressive.
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