Dubai Shopping Festival sees 10% increase in mall footfall

Steven Cleaver, the director of shopping malls at Al Futtaim Group Real Estate, said the 2018 edition of the shopping festival “has been one of the most successful to date at Dubai Festival City Mall.”

“We have seen a 10 percent year-on-year increase in footfall,” he added.

Similar increases in footfall have been recorded at Nakheel malls, Ibn Battuta Mall and both of Dubai’s Dragon Marts, as well as Mercato Mall.

While no figure has been given for Majid Al Futtaim Properties’ malls, Fuad Mansoor Sharaf, the managing director of Majid Al Futtaim Properties, shopping malls, said the shopping festival “has been a resounding success for Majid Al Futtaim’s six shopping malls in Dubai,” which include Mall of the Emirates, City Centres Deira, Mirdif and Me’aisem, Al Shindagha and My City Centre Al Barsha.

Sheikh Majid Al Mualla, the divisional senior vice president of Emirates’ commercial operations centre noted that the airline “has seen a considerable amount of traffic into Dubai during this period.”

“Along with a steady stream of visitors from the UK, USA, France, Spain and Australia, we have also seen an increase of visitors from Russia, Pakistan, Netherlands and Egypt,” he said. “Regionally, it has also been great to see a surge in visitors from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.”

Al Mualla noted that the airline expects the festival “to attract more visitors from around the world in the weeks to come before its conclusion.”

Ahmed Al Khaja, the CEO of the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) said that “these positive economic indicators for the first half of DSF augur well for the remaining period of the festival.”

“This goes to prove how crucial Dubai Shopping Festival is to Dubai’s retail and ancillary sectors and is further evidence of Dubai’s position as a leading retail destination offering unique shopping experiences,” he said.