SUNCHEON, South Korea, May 20 (Yonhap) -- The 184-day Suncheon Bay Garden exposition has attracted nearly 1.5 million visitors since it opened on April 16, the event's organizer said Monday.
The number of visitors hit the 1 million mark on Wednesday, while another 300,000 tourists visited the venue over last weekend and Buddha's birthday, according to the organizer.
The garden expo, which runs under the theme of "Garden of the Earth," is held in Suncheon, 415 kilometers south of Seoul, until Oct. 20.
Suncheon attracted 31,500 visitors on its opening day, well above the 26,000 visitors posted by the 2012 Yeosu Expo's fist day, which was held last year under the theme of "Living Ocean and Coast" in the port city of Yeosu, located some 455 kilometers south of Seoul.
The event is expected to attract more than 6 million visitors by its closing, up from the original estimate of 4 million as the event is attracting a daily average of 40,000 visitors, it added.
"People are paying attention to the Suncheon Bay Garden exposition, the first of its kind, as their interest has shifted from 'industry' to 'ecology and environment,'" said Cho Choong-hoon, the mayor of the Suncheon regional government.
The regional government has injected 245.5 billion won (US$219.4 million) into the global event, which is anticipated to generate 1.3 trillion won worth of production inducement effects and create 11,000 jobs.
The festival offers a wide range of exhibitions through four major districts -- Arboretum Zone, Wetland Center Zone, World Garden Zone, and Wetland Zone -- in its venue of 1.11 million square meters.
The venue includes 83 types of gardens, including 11 sites boasting exotic views, as well as the ECOGEO Greenhouse, the Suncheon Literary Museum and the Suncheon Bay International Wetland Center.
Suncheon Bay, located near the exhibition site with its size reaching 2.6 million square meters, is also anticipated to be a major tourist destination during the six-month event, the organizer added.
