13 agencies have been designated as ticket vendors for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The standard ticket price is set at 160 yuan.

Domestic ticket sales agents are China Mobile, China Telecom, Bank of Communications, and China Post. The overseas market goes to 9 others, including China Travel Service Hong Kong. They cover China, Japan, Australia, the US and Canada. Expo organizers will assign more agents to cover other countries and regions in the next few days.

Chen Xianjin, Shanghai World Expo Bureau, says, "overseas visitors will account for 5 percent of the total. This is about 3-and-a-half million to 4 million tickets."

Tickets sales will come in two phases. In the first stage, the four domestic agencies will handle both group tickets and individual tickets, available at over 3,000 outlets across China.

The second phase will begin in April. Designated agents will handle group sales.

Besides online sales, the world expo will also sell tickets through a mobile phone network. Sales will begin on March the 27th, the 400-day countdown to the expo.

(CCTV March 4, 2009)