Turkish Aegean province of Izmir lost the bid to host the EXPO 2015 to Italy's Milan on Monday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul had flown to Paris to promote Izmir just before the voting.

Despite its intensive lobby and promotion campaigns, Izmir --the "city of fairs of Turkey"--could not win the vote to become the venue of the EXPO--cited as the third largest event in the world in terms of economic and cultural impact, after the FIFA World Soccer Cup and the Olympic Games.

Izmir's theme for EXPO 2015 was "Health for All."

The Bureau of International Exhibitions (BIE) has hosted EXPO events for 63 times so far, and the events have made the host cities a brand and raised the quality of the venues.

The EXPO events held once in five years are large-scale and the others that take place in-between are small-scale events. The 64th will take place in Zaragoza (Saragossa), Spain; and Chinese city of Shanghai will host the 65th.

The EXPOs stay open for 180 days, and the investments for the event is usually around 10-15 billion USD. In some cities, this figure is as high as 25 billion USD.

EXPOs have changed its host cities radically so far, and left monumental buildings in these cities. Eiffel Tower in Paris, Atomium in Brussels, Crystal Palace in London, Vasco de Gama Bridge in Lisbon are among these monuments.