Dubai Duty Free reveals $976m annual sales for 2021

Figures released on Tuesday showed over nine million sales transactions were recorded at Dubai Duty Free throughout the last 12 months, an average of 25,000 sales transactions per day, while over 26 million units of merchandise were sold.

Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and CEO of Dubai Duty Free, said: “Overall, it has been a very good year for the operation despite the challenges of the pandemic and I would like to thank our chairman, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, for his ongoing support and commitment. I also join His Highness in thanking our great team of staff, our suppliers and of course our customers, for their contribution to our ongoing growth and success.”

The top five selling categories for the year included perfumes, followed by liquor, cigarettes & tobacco, gold and electronics.

Sales of perfumes reached $191m and accounted for 19.59 percent of the total annual sales. Liquor, in second place, recorded sales of $169m and accounted for 17 percent of total annual sales.

Cigarettes & Tobacco, the third best-selling category, had $95m in sales, with a 10 percent contribution. Gold came in fourth place with sales amounting to $79.5m (8 percent); while electronics came in fifth place with sales of $76m (7.8 percent).

Online sales accounted for 5 percent of the overall sales tally for 2021 and reached $48m.

Meanwhile, sales in departures across the operation reached $818m and represented 84 percent of total annual sales, while arrivals sales hit $102m – 10 percent of total annual sales.

Last month’s annual three-day anniversary sale by Dubai Duty Free resulted in sales of over $23.7m, nearly 25 percent higher than last year.

However, the latest figures are still some way short of the record $2.02 billion annual sales announced for 2019, as the entire aviation industry continues to recover from the devastating economic impact of Covid-19.