60% of shoppers oppose mall parking fee plan - poll

Almost 60 percent of people do not want to pay for parking at Dubai’s shopping malls, an online survey has revealed.

Some 59 percent of people who took part in the spot poll by Arabian Business said they would change where they shopped as opposed to paying for car parking.

The results come after news that malls in Dubai may soon introduce parking fees to limit the number of Dubai Metro users leaving their cars in their car parks.

However, only 8.5 percent of people who responded to the poll said they would continue to shop at their favourite malls regardless of parking charges. Most people said they would go where it is free to park.

The poll results contradict comments made by the BurJuman mall’s managing director, who said the introduction of parking fees had increased sales for retailers.

The mall in Bur Dubai introduced car parking charges on June 2 last year to cut the number of office workers using it.

Eisa Adam said the move sparked a slight uptick in sales as housewives and other daytime shoppers had better access to parking.

According to the poll, even people who said they would still shop at malls which charged for parking, 13.4 percent said they would visit much less.

While 19.2 percent of people reserved judgement, saying it would depend on how much malls charged.

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