Yesterday's visitor number to Expo hit 541,000 and broke the earlier record of 524,900 set on June 5.

A surge of visitors has been expected over the three-day Dragon Boat Festival holiday, which started on Monday and ends today.

Among the visitors, about 164,800 were on group tours. About 96,800 visitors used free tickets distributed by Shanghai government to local residents.

As of 7pm, 55,729 tickets were sold on site, with 20,635 night admissions. Visitors holding evening tickets, which can only be bought at ticket offices on the Expo site, can enter the site after 5pm.

By 6pm yesterday, Houtan gate received as many as 91,000 visitors and Changqing Road 76,000. Shangnan Road and Gaoke Road W. together received 175,000.

By 5pm yesterday, 85 performances had been staged, attracting about 132,000 visitors. Altogether 10,270 volunteers served on the site.

Five medical service stations inside the Expo site received 444 visits by 4pm yesterday.