Things went well yesterday on the third day of the trial run of the Taipei International Flora Expo, though only 10 percent of visitors were willing to fill out the questionnaire to identify the problems, the organizer said.
Acting Deputy Taipei Mayor Allen Chiu (邱文祥) said about 6,500 people had visited the site at Yuanshan Park by 3pm and 77.7 percent of respondents said they were happy with the facility.
Ting Hsi-yung (丁錫鏞), general producer of the event, later said that only 10 percent of visitors had filled out the questionnaire. On the first two days, about 20 percent of the questionnaires were returned.
However, Ting said 10 percent was still a good sample, adding that the result had referential significance. Besides, they had on-site staff observing the situation and some visitors would tell them to their faces what the problems were, Ting said.
The first two days of the trial run turned into mayhem when 12,960 people showed up on Saturday and 20,000 on Sunday. The organizing committee had planned to allow only 5,000 invited guests into the site every day during the first phase of the trial from Saturday through Thursday.
However, the organizer ended up allowing all uninvited visitors to enter the site to avoid confrontation.
Chiu yesterday said that while the maximum capacity of the site was 35,000 per day, they allowed only 5,000 to 10,000 people to enter the site at any one time during the first phase of the trial run. Although about 22,000 visited the site on Sunday, there were only 8,000 at the peak — less than the 10,000 limit, he said.
Chiu said that if, during the trial run, the number of visitors exceed the 10,000 limit, they would not allow more people to enter.
Those waiting in line would be separated into two groups: invited guests and uninvited guests. Once room was available, invited guests would get in first, he said.
In addition to Yuanshan Park, the expo will be held at three other sites — Art Park, Xinsheng Park and Dajia Riverside Park.
Chiu said the capacity of each park was yet to be finalized, but final numbers would be based on the trial run at Yuanshan Park.
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