It is expected that 2 million tourists will visit the exhibition, and the total number of visits will be about 5 million. It is planned that 85% of the total number of visitors will be citizens of Kazakhstan, and 15% - foreign nationals, most of which will come from the CIS countries and China. A significant number of tourists is also expected to arrive from Europe, Turkey and the United States.

The International Specialized Exhibition EXPO-2017 in Astana will start its work on June 10, 2017 and will end on September 10, 2017.

Total area of the exposition is 174 hectares, of those 25 hectares will accommodate the following EXPO facilities: National Pavilion; Best Practices Area Pavilion; international pavilions for more than 100 countries of the world; thematic pavilions which will demonstrate evolution of the exposition theme. Overall, 38 facilities will be built within the exposition area.

The peak of construction and installation work will occur in 2015, with all work to be generally completed in October 2016. Then participant countries will start installation and furnishing of their pavilions.

The symbol of EXPO-2017 will be the pavilion of Kazakhstan in the form of the biggest complete sphere in the world. In addition to the Museum of the Future, The Sphere will accommodate a museum telling the history of the country and the history of Kazakhstan nations. To-date, foundation for this building has been completed.

Theme Future Energy will be represented at EXPO-2017 in four thematic pavilions, each focusing on a separate subtheme, such as Reduction of Carbon Emissions, Energy for Life and Energy for All. A separate pavilion World of Energy will focus on the role of each individual’s contribution to the efficient use of energy. An international tender will be held in order to select innovative projects and technologies to be demonstrated in the Best Practices Area.

Domestic companies are involved in EXPO construction to the maximum extent possible. 50 to 100 small and medium-size companies from Kazakhstan are expected to be engaged in construction. At present, over 3500 employees work at the construction site, and this number will further grow. The total number of employees working at the facilities at the finishing phase will reach 10,000. Most of them will be Kazakhstan nationals.

It is expected that representatives from 100 countries will participate in EXPO-2017, and more than 2 million people will visit exposition, each of such visitors is expected to visit exposition two or more times. It is estimated that total number of visits will be about 5 million.

As of today, 115 countries and 22 international organizations have officially confirmed their participation in EXPO-2017.

Impact of EXPO-2017 on the Development of Kazakhstan and Astana

The theme of exposition – Future Energy, will help Kazakhstan to develop innovations, which include green technologies based on new fundamental discoveries, new physics, developments of Nikola Tesla. Exposition facilities built for this event will further form part of Astana.

As an outcome of this exposition, Astana may become an efficient forum for demonstration of the best world’s developments and trends in the area of utilizing solar, wind, biogas, marine current and thermal water energy. It will present the best knowhow, groundbreaking and advanced projects in the area of conventional and alternative energy generation and consumption.

Facilities built for EXPO will help Kazakhstan in future to be regarded as a large international exposition, information and presentation forum.

Particular focus is made on post-exposition use of EXPO facilities. Each foot is planned as early as now, at the design stage. For example, spaces with the height of 8 meters have special inter-floor beams in the walls, so that they could further be reconstructed into standard office spaces. Funds have already been budgeted for the post-exposition refurbishment of the facilities.