Dubai Duty Free experiences record sales of AED7.901bn in 2024

The New Year began on a high note for Dubai Duty Free as it announced a new annual sales record of AED7.901 billion for 2024, with a major surge in sales happening towards the end of the year, according to a press release on Wednesday.

This exceeded the record set last year, as it registered sales of over roughly AED7.3 billion in 2023.

The month of December set a record with sales of AED821.944 million – a 2% increase over same month of 2023, according to the press statement.

All-time record: Dubai Duty Free registers sales of over $2bn in 2023

This was fuelled by Dubai Duty Free’s 41st anniversary celebrations when the operation offered a 25% discount on December 20, and which resulted in a shopping spree of AED59.993 million during the 24-hour period.

This performance followed strong sales in November 2024 which was also higher than the same month of the previous year.

Confectionery was the best-performing category in December with sales up 29.46% over December 2023.

Dubai Duty Free managing director, Ramesh Cidambi, said, “We had a terrific November and December and the last week in December was particularly good with the staff really pushing hard to get beyond 2023’s record year.

“Despite all the major renovations and refurbishments that took place, I am very happy with the way the year has turned out,” as per the press statement.

The operation recorded over 20.733 million sales transactions throughout the year, an average of 56,649 sales transactions per day, while 55.137 million units of merchandise were sold.

It is also estimated that over 13.7 million customers shopped in DDF’s Arrivals and Departures stores in 2024, according to the press release.

Online sales topped AED197 million (US$54 million) accounting for 2.5% of the overall sales tally for 2024.

Popular categories

The top five selling categories for the year were perfumes followed by liquor, cigarettes & tobacco, gold and electronics, according to the press statement.

With sales of AED1.50 billion ($411 million), perfumes contributed 19% of total sales and retained its position once again as the top selling category with growth of 9.79% over last year.

Sales of liquor reached AED1.056 billion ($289 million) and accounted for 13% of the total annual sales with a decline of 6.6% over last year.

Meanwhile, cigarettes & tobacco recorded sales of AED807 million ($221 million) and contributed 10% towards total revenue with growth of 8.27% over last year.

Gold came in fourth place with sales amounting to AED779. million ($213 million) and accounted for 10% of total revenue and just higher last year.

Electronics came in fifth place with sales of AED546. million ($149 million).

Dubai Duty Free, now in its 41st year of operation and currently operates close to 40,000 sqm of retail space across Dubai International and AI Maktoum International airports.

Dubai has also been experiencing record tourist numbers following its Covid recovery, welcoming 10.62 million overnight visitors in January-July 2024, with an increase of 8% compared to January-July 2023, according to the Department of Economy and Tourism.

Dubai’s DXB airport also topped the list of most-connected airports in the Middle East and Africa, according to recent rankings published by Megahubs: Most Connected Airports in the World.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025