Dubai Duty Free sees sales at $1.25b in 2010

30/12/2010 00:00 AST

The world’s largest airport retailer Dubai Duty Free is expected to achieve a double-digit growth in sales in 2010 and sees another busy year ahead, the company said.

The year-end sales are expected to reach $1.25 billion, 9.6 per cent up, compared to $1.14 sales the airport retailer achieved in 2009, the company said. It recorded a 3.76 per cent growth in sales in 2009.

“Dubai Duty Free can reflect on another busy and successful year that has seen a number of significant developments for the operation who continue to hold the top slot as the single largest airport retailer in the world,” the company said while highlighting its current year performance.

There are a lot of reasons to achieve continuous growth in sales as number of passengers using Dubai International Airport is growing every month.

Dubai International’s passenger traffic surpassed the four million mark for the second consecutive month in November and for the third time in 2010, according to traffic data released by its operator — Dubai Airports.

Last month, the airport handled over 4 million passengers, up 15.1 per cent from the 3.5 million in November 2009. Year-to-date passenger numbers reached 42.9 million compared to over 37 million recorded in the corresponding period in 2009, showing an increase of 15.6 per cent.

In addition to passenger number, a significant increase in retail space is also one of the reasons for rising sales. Dubai Duty Free retail spaced jump by 8,000 square metres two years ago when Terminal 3, dedicated terminal for Emirates airline, was inaugurated. Another 8,000 square metres space will be added with the opening of Concourse 3 which is scheduled to open in 2012 for A380 super-jumbo.

This month, the Dubai Duty Free celebrated its 27th anniversary and said sales figure of Dhs66.7 million is 6.8 per cent higher than the last year’s anniversary on December 20th when it celebrated its 26th anniversary.

The statistics for the day highlight the huge volume of sales that passed through the cash points within the 24-hour period. From a category point of view, Perfumes was the highest selling category with sales of Dh21.8 million and representing 33 per cent of the total daily sales. Watches and Clocks was the second most popular category on the anniversary day with sales of Dh17.6 million. Cosmetics came in at third place, category wise, with sales of Dh5.4 million.

Khaleej Times