Dubai Duty Free is expecting to surpass $2.029 billion in sales this year, with a target to beat its 2019 record.
Speaking at a panel at the Arabian Travel Market in Dubai, executive vice chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, Colm McLoughlin, revealed that 2023’s numbers for the first four months had already exceeded that of 2019.
“The target is to take Dubai Duty Free back and surpass 2019, and that is happening so far,” said Mr McLoughlin.
“Looking at the past four months, business has already increased over 2019 figures even though the forecast [airport] traffic of 80 million people won’t be as high as 2019 levels, in terms of business we hope this year will be the highest yet.”
Despite a lockdown lull for two years, in 2022 Dubai Duty Free racked up $1.74 billion in sales, recording a 78 per cent hike over its 2021 numbers.
While perfumes and cosmetics remained the biggest category in terms of sales for Dubai Duty Free in 2023, Mr McLoughlin said that the first four months of the year also saw the mobile phone category get a boost with 33,000 pieces of iPhones sold over the period.
“While the Indian market remains just as important, this year has seen a surge in Russian and Chinese tourism numbers. Traffic from China is continuing to grow and will be very big by the end of this year,” added Mr McLoughlin.
According to February’s data, Dubai Duty Free‘s sales rose by 78 per cent to AED 6.339 billion ($1.73 billion) in 2022 compared to 2021.
