Dubai Duty Free saw sales of AED6.34bn (US$1.74 billion) in 2022, representing a 78% increase over the previous year.
The first signs of a bounce back from Covid limitations was evident in August, when Dubai Duty Free recorded an increase of 104% in sales for the first eight months of the year, when sales reached $1.06bn.
December sales were pushed up by Dubai Duty Free’s 39th anniversary celebrations when it offered a 25% discount from the December 18 to 20, which resulted in a shopping spree of AED107m ($29.4m) during the 72-hour period.
Colm McLoughlin, CEO of Dubai Duty Free, said: “We are thrilled to announce such a positive year as travel returns, during which the operation went from strength to strength.”
Dubai Duty Free recorded more than 17.3m sales transactions throughout the year, or an average of 46,912 sales transactions per day, while 47.3m units of merchandise were sold.
The best-selling category was perfume, followed by alcohol and gold.
Top-selling categories for Dubai Duty Free
- Perfume: Sales of AED1.13bn ($310.66m), contributed 18% of the total.
- Alcohol: Sales of AED1bn ($280m), contributed 16% of the total.
- Gold: Sales of AED629.3m ($172.41m), contributed 10% of the total.
- Cigarettes and Tobacco: Sales of AED562.3m ($154m), contributed 9% of total.
- Electronics: Sales of AED502.2m ($137.6m), contributed 8% of total.
Online sales accounted for 2.54% of the overall sales tally for 2022 and reached AED161.2m ($44m).
Sales in Departures across the operation totalled AED5.57bn ($1.53bn) representing 88% of total annual sales, while Arrivals sales totalled AED573.4m ($157m), representing 9% of total annual sales.
In line with the growth of the operation, rehiring and recruitment continued with the total employee count now standing 4,663.
Alongside this, it also won the award for the “Best Duty Free Shopping in the Middle East” for the fourth time.
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