The Expo organizer has stopped the sale of group tickets to companies and institutions to ensure there are enough for individual buyers, a senior Expo organizer said yesterday.

The organizer has found many group tickets are being banked by companies for use as gifts to employees.

It was feared this would cause a flood of people to the site at the end of the Expo, said Chen Zhuofu, director of the Ticketing Office of the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination.

So far, more than 37 million tickets have been sold while only 6.8 million visitors have entered the site, meaning a large number of tickets are being unused, he said.

Income from ticket sales has reached 5 billion yuan ($732 million) since sales started on March 27 last year.

The money will be put toward paying the 28.6 billion yuan cost for the Expo, with 18 billion yuan going to site construction and 10.6 billion yuan to running costs.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2010)