text: The fair struggled to attract even 200,000 daily visitors, even during July and August, when students were on summer break. The fair had recorded 13.4 million visitors by the season's midpoint in July 1964, and it received 5.8 million visitors that August, the highest of any month during the 1964 season. Nearly half of visitors came from the New York City area, and would-be visitors expressed fears about crime and unrest.  Attendance declined significantly in September when children returned to school. In response, Moses complained that journalists were tarnishing the fair's reputation and accused them of suppressing attendance. An exhibitors' committee made several recommendations for increasing attendance, but Moses rejected nearly all the suggestions.
  The fair closed for the season on October 18, 1964. There had been 33 million visitors, including 27 million who paid admission. The New York Times cited several reasons for the reduced attendance figures, including crime fears, long queues, and high prices. Additionally, the WFC had paid several contractors far more than it should have, and the fair's operating expenditures during 1964 amounted to $33.3 million, twice the original budget. Moses had projected a $53 million surplus, but the surplus stood at only $12.6 million at season's end, barely enough to pay back the city government. The WFC reduced its estimated total profit for both seasons to $30 million. Despite the financial problems, many industrial pavilions had long queues and tens of thousands of daily visitors, and the General Motors and Vatican pavilions each saw more than 10 million visitors during 1964. The New York Times reported that many international exhibitors were pleased with the fair but wanted someone else to operate it.