Osaka, Japan ramps up for Expo 2025 with major hotel and transport upgrades as it braces for 28.2 million visitors, despite slow ticket sales.

With only a month to go before Expo 2025 kicks off in Osaka, the city’s accommodation and transport sectors are bustling with preparations to handle an expected deluge of visitors. However, there’s a growing unease due to tepid advance ticket sales.

The Expo, set to run from April 13 to October 13, is anticipated to draw 28.2 million guests. In response, both local and international hoteliers are keenly focusing on the Kansai region. Last year, a record-setting 16 international hotel brands launched in Kansai, including the prestigious Waldorf Astoria Osaka, marking the high-end Hilton brand’s inaugural venture into Japan, set to open in April.

Domestically, Candeo Hospitality Management has been expanding its footprint, having opened a new hotel intertwined with a Buddhist temple in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi district in November 2023, and a flagship property in the Dojima area in July.

Booking data shows a spike in accommodation reservations in Osaka prefecture for the Expo period on the Jalan reservation site, with numbers more than doubling year-over-year. Similarly, searches on the Singapore-based Agoda site for stays in Osaka city have climbed over 10% compared to last year.

As of December, the average hotel room rate in Osaka prefecture surged to 22,622 yen ($150), a 66% increase from December 2019, pre-pandemic levels, as reported by STR, a subsidiary of the U.S. based CoStar Group.

Transport infrastructure is also getting a boost. Kansai International Airport is set to increase its flight capacity, while extensive renovations to Terminal 1 are nearing completion. The Central Japan Railway will up the frequency of Nozomi express shinkansen trains from Tokyo during weekends, and West Japan Railway plans to add more shinkansen services from Kyushu. Kintetsu Railway is set to expand express services between Osaka and Nagoya.

Additionally, Osaka Metro has extended its Chuo Line to Yumeshima, the man-made island hosting the Expo, with the new Yumeshima Station having opened in January. The metro company’s Expo-related investments have topped 100 billion yen, including new trains and station renovations, with plans to increase transport capacity by 50% during peak hours.

Despite these extensive preparations, the enthusiasm for ticket sales hasn’t matched expectations, with only 8.07 million advance tickets sold by March 5, just 57.6% of the target of 14 million. Recent surveys indicate a slight decline in public interest, prompting the Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition to partner with Universal Studios Japan in a new promotional push and to relax their advance-only ticket policy to include same-day sales, aiming to attract more attendees.

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