By IANS,
Beijing: Visitors at Shanghai World Expo are thronging the stalls of “Expo Passport” to buy the rare document with seals of all participating countries and carry it as a memento of their tour.
In the first two days of the six-month event, the “Expo Passport” has become popular among hundreds of thousands of Expo visitors, who hope to take home a special souvenir.
“With the passport, I can collect seals of different countries when I visit Expo pavilions, which is very good for commemoration,” said Wu Xiaohua, from central Chinese city of Wuhan.
The organisers have prepared four versions of “Expo Passport”, including a yellow-coloured children’s edition.
The “Expo Passport” looks very much like a real passport, with personal information and serial numbers. It sells at 30 yuan ($4.4) each.
In addition to the blue-coloured expo mascot “Haibao”, the “Expo Passport” is among the best-sellers at the Expo Park stores, Xinhua quoted store managers as saying.
Some stores had already sold out all the passports by Sunday noon, but crowds still flood in for inquiries. According to organisers, more stocks of passports are expected to be placed on shelves in the following days.
“The Expo Passport is able to help regulate the tourist flow and maintain a good order,” said Huang Jianzhi, deputy director of the Shanghai World Expo Bureau.
“Visitors will go to more pavilions to collect seals, instead of just focusing on popular ones,” he added.