Shopping fest to offer bigger bargains amid global gloom

FESTIVAL TIME: Dubai Shopping Festival is to put emphasis on deep discounting amid the global slowdown. (Getty Images)

The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) will be putting more emphasis on deep discounting and less focus on entertainment this year, as it faces a slowing world economy and strengthening dollar.

DSF chief executive Laila Suhail said the festival, which starts on Jan 15, hopes to attract around 3 million visitors this year, the same number as in 2008.

Participating hotels will be slashing their rates by 40 to 60 percent to mark the event this year, and many are throwing in discounted meals and free breakfasts to boost occupancy.

The ninth annual DSF will also be placing less emphasis on entertainment than in the past to focus on its core activity: shopping.

“This year the focus is more on shopping, in terms of the offers that will be given by the retailers,” Suhail said.

But for UK tourists and expats, the resurgent dollar, to which all Gulf currencies except the Kuwaiti dinar are pegged, has made for some eye watering price differences.

After breaking the $2 barrier last summer, the sterling has plummeted against the dollar and was last week trading at around $1.50.

Around 30 percent of Dubai’s tourists are estimated to come from the UK.

But with the country in the throes of a recession, and some British highstreet brands now costing 50 percent more in the UAE than they do at home, DSF has been focusing its marketing efforts elsewhere.

“We have focused more on the GCC, India, CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and Iran,” Suhail said.

For people in those markets, a combination of factors will make DSF an attractive destination, she said.

Travelling to Dubai will be cheaper than going to Europe, and accommodation will be deeply discounted.

Then there’s the weather: while prices in London’s Oxford Street may be unbeatable right now, there’s something else to be said for the temperature outside.

Still, Suhail admitted that this is a challenging year to be organizing the event, but added: “We’ve learnt something in Dubai: that we need to keep going and to be optimistic, and to always keep improving.”

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