Dubai Duty Free has recorded a 104 per cent increase in sales for the first eight months of 2022, with its turnover reaching US$1.06 billion.
The latest figures place it on track to reach its target of US$1.6 billion by the end of the year. In comparison, it reported full-year 2021 sales of US$976 million.
Perfumes, liquor, gold, cigarettes and tobacco and electronics were the top five selling categories from January-August this year.
Perfumes showed an 89 per cent increase amounting to US$186 million, while liquor, which accounted for 16 per cent of total sales, reached US$168 million.
The sale of gold increased by 181 per cent over the same period last year with sales amounting to US$106 million.
Cigarettes and tobacco reached US$98 million and accounted for 9 per cent of Dubai Duty Free’s total sales while the share of electronics rose by 79 per cent year-on-year to reach US$81 million.
In a statement, Dubai Duty Free added that another notable increase was seen in the fashion category, which rose from US$41 million to US$130 million. It attributed the increase to its recent openings of high-profile fashion brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Cartier. Along with Chanel and Gucci, they are now among the top five luxury brands at Dubai Duty Free.
Meanwhile, online sales reached US$29 million and accounted for 3 per cent of total sales in the first eight months.
Departures sales in Dubai International airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International airport (AMIA), which account for 88 per cent of total sales, showed an 115 per cent increase over the same period last year reaching US$927 million, while Terminal 2 Departure sales were up 59 per cent year-on-year.
Dubai Duty Free added that sales across all concourses registered “significant increases” with overall sales in Concourse B up 35 per cent over last year. Over the next 18 months, Dubai Duty Free will undertake a full renovation of its liquor and tobacco offer in Concourse B.
Dubai Duty Free noted that it is also rehiring staff bringing the level of employees up to 4,407, which includes 58 new Emirati recruits..
“We have now recalled almost 2,000 of our laid off staff and our current staffing levels are getting closer to the pre-Covid figures,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice-chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free.
“We have had a fantastic year so far and I am pleased that we have recovered over 80 per cent of our business from January to August, whereas the passenger recovery is about 67 per cent of 2019 levels. We are heading into a busy sales period for the last quarter and with the upcoming FIFA World Cup starting in November, this will further boost traffic to Al Maktoum International airport which will handle an additional 30 return flights to Doha during the World Cup period. All in all, we are confident that we will reach our target at the end of December, which also marks our 39th anniversary.”
