(ANSA) - Milan, March 27 - With just over a month to go before the curtains are raised on Expo 2015, works are proceeding apace and event organizers don't seem at all concerned with meeting what many still consider a challenging deadline.
    "More than 90 percent of the works are complete," Expo General Manager and Event Manager Piero Galli said during a press conference Thursday at Milan's foreign press association. "We are building a one million square meter city, it's complex. There are some 60 simultaneous work sites in an area that will be hosting up to 250,000 people a day. That's the population of Messina, Italy's 8th largest city." Galli said that "as of today" 145 countries had confirmed their presence, with "a few still uncertain." Countries like to organize events like Expos and the Olympics because they can generate important economic benefits. In Italy, Expo is expected to add about 10 billion euros to GDP, including about 5 billion euros to the tourism industry. Galli said that already London, Paris and Rotterdam have expressed interest in hosting the 2025 World Fair (the 2020 one will be held in Dubai) and he said it was his understanding that Chicago was also considering a bid.
    But to attract visitors a theme is necessary, for the mission of Expos themselves has radically changed over recent years. "Once, these events were organized as a way to bring the world to the host city's citizens," Galli said. "Now with internet and with some 1.7 billion people traveling each year, this is no longer necessary." Italy chose food because it is one of the excellences attributed to it around the world. And the country has a lot to offer, starting with its famed Mediterranean diet, recognized by UNESCO as a world heritage. This diet is based, among others, on an abundance of vegetables and here, according to Galli, Italy is a world leader: the country hosts some 4,500 edible vegetable varieties, more than twice as many as the second most diversified country. Yet, despite its highly acclaimed Mediterranean diet, Italian children are the most obese in Europe - one reason why Expo is dedicating one of its five thematic areas to Children. "We have the best diet in the world, yet we eat very badly," Galli said. In terms of ticket sales, Galli said that so far some eight million tickets have been sold - including about five million outside Italy - and that organizers expect to sell 10 million before the event begins. He reiterated the stated goal of bringing in some eight million foreign visitors to Expo, with another 12 million coming from Italy. Representing about 35 percent of total visitors, Expo Milan would set a new record in terms of foreign visitors as a percent of total visitors for a world's fair. Offering some more detail on ticket sales, Galli said that so far about 700,000 tickets have been sold in the US and about 900,000 in China, mostly through tour operators. Organizers are making specific outreach initiatives in cities where there is a significant Italian immigrant population, like Toronto, Mar del Plata (in Argentina) and Sao Paulo (Brazil). Galli said that in these cities there are large numbers of second and third generation Italians who have great pride in their homeland - "often more than those who live in Italy" - and they are interested in returning to visit their homeland. During the conference organizers also presented a new "3-D Virtual Tour" application, developed by Dassault Systèmes with the help of two Italian app designers - Roberto Carraro and Gualtiero Carraro - who also developed "Roma Virtual History", an app presented by Steve Jobs when he unveiled the iPad2 in 2011. By going to www.virtual.expo2015.org, viewers can get a sort of sneak peek of what the "real" Expo site will be like when it opens. The site can help those planning to visit Expo from another country get a good idea of what they want to see in advance, so they can plan their visit accordingly. Considering that a whole day's visit is enough to see only about 15 percent of the Expo site, accurate pre-visit planning is one way to ensure visitors will get the most out of their tour, Galli said.