Expo 2020 Dubai unveils white passport for superfans

Free souvenir available to world's fair visitors with 100 or more pavilion stamps

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Expo 2020 Dubai has launched a limited-edition white passport for superfans of the world's fair.

Visitors with a minimum of 100 stamps in their existing yellow passport can present it at an Expo visitor centre to receive the white passport memento for free.

The white passport comes with a commemorative stamp of its own, signifying 100 stamps achieved. The original yellow passport will also get a stamp to indicate that a white passport has been awarded.

White passports are available until the end of Expo 2020 Dubai on March 31.

Organisers said last month that the 50-page passport, at Dh20 ($5.4), was the most popular souvenir sold at the event - with sales crossing the one million mark.

The souvenir book allows people to collect stamps at each pavilion they visit during the six-month event.

Expo passports were introduced in 1967 at the world's fair in the Canadian city of Montreal.

Expo 2020 passports come with watermarked pictures on each page and a unique code number, as well as space for personal details and a passport-sized picture.

Each of Expo’s 200-plus pavilions has its own stamp.

Through the event, Expo has unveiled stamps to mark special days or events. Visitors on December 2, the UAE's 50th anniversary, received an exclusive stamp.

During Global Goals Week, held in association with the UN, visitors could collect Sustainable Development Goals stamps from locations across the site in a special edition stamp card.

Some superfans have gone to extraordinary lengths to complete various feats while collecting stamps.

Fazil Ummer, 16, was one of the earliest visitors to make it to every country pavilion on the site - achieving the feat in 72 hours. He said the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Germany pavilions were his favourites.

Amine Zaanoun, from Morocco, set himself the task of visiting all the pavilions as fast as he could, combining the feat with the Dubai Fitness Challenge. He visited all 192 country pavilions in two days.

Expo superfan Cesar Corona, who has been to six world expos, has collected stamps on maps and posters from several world's fairs.

In Dubai, one Expo 2020 volunteer started a new trend of collecting stamps on his clothing, including kanduras and T-shirts.

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Updated: March 02, 2022, 8:22 AM