Expo 2020 Dubai: More than 700,000 souvenir passports sold

If you put all the yellow booklets sold end to end, they would reach from Dubai to Abu Dhabi

On September 30, the day of the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony, one passport was sold every three seconds from the Expo online store. Victor Besa / The National

On the same day, 19 passports were sold every minute on Amazon. Chris Whiteoak / The National

In less than two months, the world's fair has sold more than 700,000 Expo 2020 Dubai passports. Chris Whiteoak / The National

If you placed every Expo passport sold end to end, you would reach Abu Dhabi from Expo 2020 Dubai. Victor Besa / The National

Since it was launched in early September, the Expo 2020 Dubai passport has remained on Amazon's best sellers list. Victor Besa / The National

Lucky visitors could receive a free passport. The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs of Dubai is handing out 3,000 Expo 2020 Dubai passports to travellers entering the Emirates. Photo: GDRFA

The yellow passports for Expo 2020 Dubai are a runaway success.

According to event organisers, the Dh20 booklet has quickly become the must-have souvenir from the world’s fair, with sales greater than those of any previous expo.

Visitors are encouraged to use the 50-page passport to keep track of the pavilions they visit in the course of the six-month event. Each pavilion offers a different stamp at the exit.

The passports can be bought from all official Expo 2020 Dubai stores across the Dubai South site, the Expo 2020 store in Dubai Airports' Terminal 3 and online.

Here are five facts about the ubiquitous yellow booklets:

• If you placed each Expo 2020 passport sold end to end, they would reach from the Expo site in Dubai to Abu Dhabi
• More than 700,000 passports have been sold in less than two months
• On the night of the opening ceremony, September 30, one Expo passport was sold every three seconds
• Nineteen passports were sold per minute by Amazon that evening
• The passport has remained on Amazon.ae’s Toys bestseller list since its launch in September

An expo tradition

The first expo passport was introduced at the 1967 World Expo in Montreal.

This year, watermarked pictures appear on each page, and security features include a unique code number and space for personal details and a passport-sized picture.

One page is marked in gold foil to celebrate the UAE’s Golden Jubilee and to pay tribute to Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father.

Dubai's skyline and other elements relating to the UAE are also included in the illustrations.

Visitors will also receive an exclusive stamp on December 2, the UAE's 50th anniversary.

Meet the Expo super-fan