Recently a group of editors from MICE magazines in Asia visited the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo. The editors were Julia Douglas, MICE in Asia, Darren Ng, TTG (Singapore), Kim Yoo-Seok, Convention News (Korea Convention Association) and Mitsuru Moriguchi with Yukio Okuda of Event & Convention magazine from Japan. During the visit at the Bureau, the editors were briefed of the latest development of the World Expo which is scheduled to be held from May 1 to October 31 in 2010.

The 2010 Expo will be developed around the theme Better City, Better Life. It is estimated that about 200 nations and international organisations will take part in the exhibition and the Expo hopes to attract 70 million visitors locally and from abroad. Currently work is well underway along the Nanpu Bridge-Lupu Bridge region in the centre of Shanghai. The site of the Expo will occupy land on both sides of the Huangpu River.

After the briefing, a trip was organised for a one day visit to Hangzhou and a night in Ningbo. In Hangzhou, the editors were entertained to a lunch hosted by the Vice Mayor of Hangzhou and officials of the local people’s government. Here the editors were taken for a tour on a boat around the West Lake, Hangzhou’s world famous tourist spot. In Ningbo, a press conference was held by the Vice Mayor and the media representatives were informed of the city’s potential in hosting events and a destination for exhibitions.