Organizers say no plans to extend Astana Expo 2017 until Nov
According to Sergei Kuyanov, Director of the PR Department of Astana EXPO-2017 National Company, the exhibition will not be prolonged and will end within the timeframe set earlier He stressed that possible extension would have contravened the regulations of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE).
"Yesterday, a group of Astana city businessmen sent an open letter to CEO of Astana EXPO-2017 National Company [Akhmetzhan Yessimov] asking him to look into the possibility of extending the Expo 2017 exhibition until November. We perfectly understand their motivation as their companies are making very good money thanks to the exhibition. We are happy for them, because one of the goals of the exhibition was to boost tourism. At the same time, EXPO operates in compliance with the regulations of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), according to which the exhibitions last for 3 months. It is one of the reasons why we cannot respond positively to this request," Kuyanov said.
"The economic effect of the EXPO is very broad. For instance, the Astana City Administration has just announced the figures that illustrate the development of domestic tourism sector and related industries," he continued. "1,772,489 tourists have visited Astana since the exhibition started. This is 4.5 times more than in the same period last year."
In addition, Kuyanov mentioned another reason why the exhibition can't be extended.
"On the other hand, the budgets of the EXPO international participants are limited by the timeframes, therefore, the extension will also be a very big problem for them," he said.
At the press briefing Kuyanov also talked about how EXPO premises will be used after the event. "The central premise of the exhibition, Nur Alem pavilion, will remain. It will remain as a symbol of the city and as a tourist attraction. Nur Alem will be called the 'Future Museum' and will operate on an ongoing basis. The Arts Center and the Best Practices Area will still work after the exhibition, as over 120,000 people have visited them within 2 months. The Congress Hall and the Energy Hall will operate according to their profiles," he stressed.
Recall that the EXPO-2017 International Specialized Exhibition started on June 10 and will end on September 10, 2017, as per the BIE Regulations.