EXPO 2020 Dubai merchandise and passports with stamps are now being sold for thousands of dirhams online.
Sellers advertising is now offering the coveted passports, which were earlier being sold for Dh20 at the time of the event, for anywhere between Dh2,000 to as high as Dh9,000. The six-month-long event ended on 31 March and got around 24 million visitors.
The 50-page long passport booklet includes pictures and designs of the three Thematic Pavilions; Alif – The Mobility Pavilion, Mission Possible – The Opportunity Pavilion, and Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion along with Al Wasl Plaza- the crown jewel of the Expo 2020 site, with many other landmarks, such as Dubai’s iconic skyline.
One seller has advertised two regular Expo passports and one white that is a limited edition passport for sale on the advertising website Dubizzle for a whooping Dh9,000.
All the passports as mentioned above are said to be in a perfect condition, inside and out, and contain a total of 217 stamps.
Another seller who is selling his Expo passport for Dh2,500 says that it has only been utilised for a few times and is in good condition inside and out.
Yet another one is offering an Expo passport with around 20 stamps for Dh2,000 – but not without a contradiction: this one has a little of wear and tear.
Not only the passports are in high demand after the world’s most incredible show concluded over a month ago. Memorabilia and accompaniments, such as Expo pins, passport holders and lanyards, are also up for sale on the highly-popular app TikTok.
One user on TikTok who goes by the username @nerveegent asserts that his friend sold a passport for Dh1,500. “It is a business for those who have disposable earnings,” he says.
A Lebanese citizen, Khouloud Azouz, residing in the UAE, has also put up her passport for sale on the advertising website for Dh2,500. “There is a fine line between a keepsake and a good investment. It is good that the passport is valuable; [we] might as well benefit it and use it to get some retrieval on investment.”