Dubai Duty Free, one of the world's iconic airport retailers, is right on track to hit $2 billion sales target this year on the back of traffic growth, notwithstanding the impact of a stronger dollar and value-added tax. Salah Tahlak, Executive Vice President- Corporate Services at DDF, said sales at Dubai International and Al Maktoum International Airport have been recording steady growth despite the strengthening of the dollar and the introduction of five per cent VAT on sales at Arrivals outlets.

"A pick up in sales at Departures outlets, where exports are Zero-rated, has more than offset a decline at Arrivals following the VAT implementation," said Tahlak. DDF, which is marking its 35th anniversary in 2018, recorded a 9.6 per cent sales surge to Dh3.671 billion in the first half after a strong performance in 2017, placing its annual revenues well on track to reach Dh7.3 billion in 2018.

In 2017, Dubai Duty Free sales rose 5.6 per cent to Dh7.05 billion as sales in December alone surged to a record Dh805 million, reversing two years of decline. Tahlak said the upbeat forecast for 2018 is based on the first half performance, and given that more new retail areas are now operational while more ongoing retail developments are coming on stream at both Dubai International and Al Maktoum International airports.

DDF has been on a stable growth track since its inception 35 years ago. "We expect to keep the momentum of growth in 2019 as we anticipate a steady increase in traffic, especially from China and Russia and other countries following the introduction of the "visa on arrival facility" for several nationalities," said Tahlak.

Both Chinese and Russian nationalities, which have been included in the visas on arrival category, are driving the sales uptick. In particular, a significant upswing in the number of Chinese tourists has helped the sales boost. With more nationalities, especially Subcontinent citizens, expected to be included in the category in the coming months, the airport traffic and DDF sales are bound to pick up.

In 2017, the number of passengers from Russia climbed 28 per cent to 1.3 million, while those from China surged 19.4 per cent to 2.2 million. Tahlak said Dubai's airports expect to register passenger traffic of 90 million in 2018 and 92 million in 2019. In 2020, DDF expects a significant sales boost with World Expo expected to draw more than 20 million visitors from across the world. The ongoing expansion of Dubai International will help the airport boost capacity by around a third to 118 million passengers by 2023, which in turn is expected to drive DDF sales much higher.

As Dubai's two airports add on new destinations, DDF is constantly reviewing and modifying its merchandise mix and staff deployment to cater to new customer segments and nationalities. "We monitor the traffic pattern and nationality closely to keep track of the specific requirements and preference of new and traditional customer base," said Tahlak.

He ruled out any major impact on DDF sales from the scheduled closure of the runway at Dubai International in 2019 for 45 days from April 16 to May 30. "As the runway shut down is only for a shorter period in 2019 and considering the completion of revamp in Al Maktoum International, we don't think it would affect revenue much compared to the last time when the runway was shut for 80 days in 2014."

Developing sport on a global scale

On the most rewarding part of being the first Emirati member of the WTA Global Tournament and the ATP Global Tournament Council boards, Salah Tahlak adds, "It is seeing first-hand the sport of tennis develop on a global scale. As custodians of this great sport, we have the privilege of being in a position to drive the development of this sport worldwide, and to ensure that it reaches out to all communities, and evolves in a way that ensures it stays relevant and its popularity continues to grow. At the WTA, there could be a new structure from 2019. And there could be changes in the ATP too in 2019. Efforts are on to make some changes to make the tournaments and the sport overall more interesting for the fans. The year 2019 could be the start of a new era in tennis.

"I am a board member of Tennis Emirates. Dubai Duty Free has always supported them. We have done a lot for the growth of the UAE national tennis team. We have also supported various programmes launched to help the players at the grassroots level. Also, we have given Omar Behroozian nine wild cards to play in the main draw. It's good for the UAE, and good for tennis. We have also encouraged players from the region. Mohammed Al Ghareeb from Kuwait came close to winning a set against Federer one year. It was good for Arab tennis. We also had Moroccan great Younes El Aynaoui in our tournament."

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