The Middle Eastâs biggest travel retailer, Dubai Duty Free racked up $1.74 billion sales in 2022, a healthy hike of 78% over the previous year but still almost $300 million short of the companyâs record $2.03 billion set in 2019 before the Covid pandemic.
Nevertheless, the 2022 result is better than the retailerâs summer forecast of $1.55 billion, which, at the time, was considered a little cautious. In a statement, the company said that the year-over-year rebound was âa sign that the operation was on track for a strong recovery after two challenging years.â By August, cumulative sales for the first eight months of the year had shown a 104% increase on 2021, crossing the one billion dollar threshold.
In line with the growth, rehiring and recruitment has continued, with the total employee count now at almost 4,700. Commenting on the rebound year, Dubai Duty Freeâs executive vice chairman and CEO, Colm McLoughlin, said: âAs travel returned, operations went from strength to strength.â McLoughlinâwho has had a glittering 53-year career in the duty-free industry and is probably its best known leaderâhas headed the UAE UAE retailer since 1983 when turnover was just $20 million.
The company did not offer a forecast for 2023, but it said that it would continue to maintain its busy events and promotional calendar. This includes the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, a key stop for the ATP World Tour and the WTA Tour, which will take place from February 19 to March 4.
Other continuing high-profile retail promotions are the companyâs regular Millennium Millionaire and Finest Surprise draws that have already made two Indian nationals, Kurakula Daveedu and Sagar Anand Bhatia, dollar millionaires in the first few days of this year.
Some good news for the wider duty-free business was that, over the year, average sales per transaction moved upwards compared with 2019. Over the full year of 2022, Dubai Duty Free recorded over 17.3 million sales transactions, averaging out at 46,912 per day. This works out to around $10 per transaction. By comparison, pre-pandemic 2019 saw $8.36 per transaction, but there were many more of them at 24.3 million.
These numbers must be viewed with caution as strong ârevengeâ travel spending seen in the earlier part of 2022, which may have caused the lift, seems to have faded away. A strong indicator of that was during Decemberâs three-day annual 25% price off when average transaction amounts slipped significantly.
By category, perfumes led 2022 with $311 million, or 18% of total sales, followed by liquor, gold, cigarettes/tobacco, and electronics. Liquor reached $280 million (16% of sales), while gold hit $172 million (10% of sales). Online revenue, at $44 million, accounted for 2.5% of the $1.74 billion tally for 2022.
Dubai Duty Free has consistently won awards for its operations at Dubai International Airport including its 21st consecutive Business Traveller Middle East prize, last year, as the best airport for duty-free shopping in the region.
