Despite a shift in traveller spending, from one region to another, Dubai Duty Free expects to record increased figures on last year.
Dubai Duty Free’s executive chairman Colm McLoughlin, in an interview with Travel Retail Business, said the fall-off in visitors from Russia has been offset with increased number of travellers from China and Africa, which should see Dubai regain its position as the world’s largest single airport retail operation in the world from South Korea’s Incheon International Airport.
“I think the traffic through Dubai airport has increased. Dubai airport had 72 million passengers last year, this year it’s expected to end at 79 million passengers. There has been a change in trend of spending, but our sale per head is continuing to hold its own,” he told the magazine.
“We will have a drop in what we describe as Russian spend, but that’s been compensated for by increased African spend, increased Chinese spend and we still expect this year to finish a little bit up on last year.”
Dubai Duty Free recorded record sales of $1.91 billion during 2014, a 7.36 percent increase over the previous year. Speaking earlier this year, McLoughlin said spending at Dubai International Airport should reach $2.1 billion in 2015.
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