DUBAI, UAE – Al-Futtaim Real Estate saw strong trading momentum across its UAE malls portfolio including Dubai Festival City Mall, Festival Plaza and Arabian Center during the 2026 Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr period, delivering an average 8% year-on-year sales uplift.

The performance reflects a broader shift towards experience-led retail, where dining, entertainment, and community-driven activations are increasingly influencing how customers engage with destinations, while reinforcing the UAE’s position as a stable and trusted retail hub.A central pillar of this success was the strategic elevation of F&B as a core driver of footfall, dwell time, and spend across the portfolio. By focusing on curated dining and experiential concepts, F&B has become a crucial social anchor, solidifying the malls' positions as go-to destinations for community connection.

Dubai Festival City Mall

During the 2026 Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr period, the portfolio’s flagship destination recorded a 12% year-on-year sales uplift alongside a 5% increase in footfall, reflecting the strength of its local catchment and consistent visitor engagement.

Consumer behaviour showed a shift towards more intentional, experience-led visits, with balanced performance across key categories. Value and mid-market fashion remained resilient, while dining continued to play a central role in driving social engagement.

This performance was supported by strategic partnerships with Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment, including the 3-Day Super Sale (Ramadan Edition), as well as targeted campaigns such as 5X BLUE Rewards, which incentivised spend across retail, dining, and entertainment.

Ongoing tenant curation also contributed to performance, with new concepts such as SALT and Camper supporting an increase in trading occupancy to 93% and reinforcing the mall’s positioning as a destination offering culturally relevant and experience-driven concepts, including activations such as “Majlis by the Bay.”

Festival Plaza

Festival Plaza cemented its role as a high-frequency, community-driven hub, with approximately 15% growth in essential categories, reinforcing its role as an everyday retail hub. This was complemented by significant growth in services like fitness and beauty, establishing the mall as a key wellness hub. The resilient performance of its dining and home categories, all underpinned by strong engagement from Ramadan workshops and Eid activations, further solidified its community-centric position.

Arabian Center

Arabian Center reinforced its position as a value-driven community destination, achieving approximately 5% growth during Ramadan, with further acceleration during Eid across key categories including fashion, footwear, and perfumes.

F&B remained a key contributor to performance, reflecting continued demand for accessible, social dining experiences.

Community engagement initiatives, including the Ramadan & Eid Souk, which saw a 26% increase in participation, alongside partnerships with organisations such as Emirates Red Crescent and Dubai Charity, further strengthened the mall’s connection to its local audience.

Hayssam Hajjar, Executive Director – Asset Management, Al-Futtaim Real Estate said: “The strong Ramadan and Eid performance across our portfolio reflects the underlying strength and resilience of our malls business, particularly in an environment where customer expectations and market dynamics continue to evolve. Our ability to sustain growth during this period is a direct result of disciplined management, proactive tenant curation, and a continued focus on experience-led offerings.

We remain firmly on track with our leasing strategy, with a strong pipeline of new brands and concepts set to open across our malls - further reinforcing the attractiveness of our assets and the confidence of our retail partners in the long-term performance of our destinations.

Our malls are firmly positioned as integrated lifestyle destinations, driving consistent footfall, engagement and spend, by delivering relevance and value to our customers. This performance reinforces our confidence in the robustness of our portfolio and our ability to navigate changing conditions while continuing to deliver sustainable, long-term growth.

We would also like to extend our sincere appreciation to Dubai Economy & Tourism (DET) and all relevant authorities for their continuous and exceptional support, which remains instrumental in enabling the sector’s stability, growth, and overall success.”

The strong holiday results signal positive momentum and long-term resilience for the retail sector, with a clear strategy focused on stability, customer engagement, and the enduring strength of the malls as a center for community.

About Dubai Festival City Mall

Dubai Festival City Mall, one of the major shopping destinations in Dubai, stands as the super-regional flagship mall in the Al-Futtaim Real Estate portfolio, achieving over 25 million footfall in 2025. With over 400 outlets, the mall is home to renowned fashion and beauty brands like The Editor’s Market, H&M, Watsons, Nike, Adidas, Sephora, MAC Cosmetics and more, as well as popular interior stores including IKEA and ACE.

A paradise for culinary delights, the destination offers iconic waterfront dining on Festival Bay and comprises 50 restaurants and cafés and the largest food court in Dubai. The mall promises an unrivalled gastronomic variety for visitors with a host of renowned brands such as Joe & The Juice, L’ETO, EL&N, Din Tai Fung and Karaki Lounge and licensed concepts including Sayf Dubai and Helipad by Frozen Cherry.

During the winter months, guests can enjoy the immersive and experiential destination The Bay by Social, featuring diverse F&B offering, cozy coffee counters, brand activation zones, interactive art installations, a carnival atmosphere and lush greenery.

The entertainment venue is also home to VOX Cinema Multiplex; the world-first BOUNCE-X Freestyle Terrain Park; the record-breaking, global attraction IMAGINE; Fabyland, a 70,000 sq. ft. family entertainment centre; and Leo & Loona, Hello Park and Go Skate, all-in-one family destinations.

With creating exceptional experiences at the core of its mandate, the mall offers several signature services including car charging stations, EZ taxis inside the mall, valet parking, NOL charging stations and Mayed, the mall’s personal happiness ambassador to provide personalized assistance to elevate the shopping experience.

Visit our website here

About Festival Plaza

Festival Plaza, Al-Futtaim Real Estate’s local lifestyle community mall, caters to residential areas including Jebel Ali, Al Furjan and Wasl Gate, as well as attracting visitors from Dubai Marina, Palm Jumeirah, Motor City and further afield.

Spanning 65,000 square metres, Festival Plaza offers a wide variety of retail, dining and lifestyle options including the largest IKEA store in the region, a concept store from Lulu Hypermarket and the premium Al-Futtaim Health clinics, HealthHub and Lutetia. Visitors to Festival Plaza can choose from more than 20 dining options offering international cuisines at the expansive food court.

Enhancing the community offering is the newly opened Scorpion Arcade, which joins the Volvo Mall studio, the Festival Plaza Design Hub for interior design, Kavak – the international pre-owned car platform now in the UAE – and Champs Festival Plaza, the UAE’s largest world-class indoor sporting and fitness complex.

Some 2,300 parking spaces ensure easy accessibility, while the mall offers several signature services such as a shuttle bus and a parents’ room.

Find more information https://www.dubaifestivalplaza.com/home/.

About Al-Futtaim Group Real Estate

Al-Futtaim Real Estate is the region’s only private master developer with over six decades of real estate and management experiences, with a diversified portfolio across the real estate value chain. Al-Futtaim Real Estate is responsible for a multi-billion-dollar portfolio comprising of individual, corporate real estate and investment assets and master-planned destinations across the Middle East and North Africa region. With capabilities across the value chain and entire real estate cycle from location conceptualization, development, design and fit-out, asset management, contracting and operation, Al-Futtaim Real Estate covers a diverse range of industries and asset type including residential, commercial, malls, hospitality, healthcare, infrastructure, and education.

The current flagship mixed-use urban communities under Al-Futtaim Real Estate’s Festival City brand are Dubai Festival City, Cairo Festival City and Doha Festival City. Dubai Festival City and Cairo Festival City are fully integrated communities which have been carefully master planned to offer a superior lifestyle destination with outstanding facilities, comprising residential and commercial accommodation, educational institutions and five-star hotels to fully complement the signature retail, leisure, and entertainment proposition. The Real Estate portfolio covers over 1 million sqm GLA across retail and commercial assets and over 80 million in annual footfall across five malls in the MENA region: Dubai Festival City Mall and Festival Plaza in the UAE, Cairo Festival City Mall in Egypt, Doha Festival City in Qatar and Zenata Mall in Casablanca, Morocco.

Testament to its expertise in the retail space, Al-Futtaim Real Estate also provides third party management services in asset management, leasing, marketing and operations for shopping centers in the region, including Arabian Center, part of the Al Naboodah Group.  

The Al-Futtaim Real Estate division also manages Al Futtaim’s contracting business, a fully integrated, end-to-end engineering, technologies and construction specialist with a solid delivery track record of mega projects in major Middle East markets over the past 50 years. Al-Futtaim Engineering & Technologies offers customers complete engineering and systems integration solutions.

Visit our website here

For more information, please contact: alfuttaim@webershandwick.com

Arabian Center

A local favourite, Arabian Center is home to 200 brands, ranging from clothing, home furnishings, including a 62,000+ Homes R Us, electronics, jewellery, perfumes to fashion accessories, and family entertainment, Air Maniax, Fun City, Lemonade, including a 101,000+ sq. ft. Lulu Hypermarket. The mall features a fully digital eight-screen cinema, famous restaurants and cafés, a spacious 600+ food court seating, banks, many medical centres including PRIME and Health Hub, and much more. A one-stop destination for the whole family, the mall boasts Arabian-inspired architecture within a modern setting.

Located off Airport Road, the shopping mall covers a total site area of more than 1 million square feet over two levels, with 1,500 parking spaces available. Arabian Center can be reached via Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road, making it easily accessible for visitors from all emirates and communities. Arabian Center opened in 2009 and is owned by The Real Estate Holding Company LLC part of Mr. Mohamed Juma Al Naboodah Group and managed by Al-Futtaim Real Estate.

Visit our website her