Dubai Tourism releases new annual retail calendar

Following a review of the competitiveness of Dubai’s retail sector, undertaken by Dubai Tourism, strategic recommendations were developed in consultation with the Department of Economic Development, a press statement has said.

Outcomes of the strategy cover initiatives to address consumer perceptions, pricing competitiveness, product-mix, experience enhancement, e-commerce and future proofing through digitisation and proactive innovation.

Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), director general His Excellency Helal Saeed Al Marri said: “Dubai has been continuously growing its standing as a leader in global travel, ranked number four today with the highest average spend per tourist within the economy compared to any other city in the world. Beyond growing tourist volumes, one of the mandates of Dubai Tourism is to significantly enhance the economic value created across all travel related industries to our GDP. Retail is one of the core pillars of our destination proposition, and one that is a key driver of spend within the economy – hence the incredible support from the Department of Economic Development has been paramount to the success of this project.”

“In undertaking this exercise, our aim was to work with the industry towards making Dubai the world’s leading destination for retail-tourism, attracting more traffic and fueling consumption across the shopping precincts, and ultimately accelerating domestic retail industry growth. It has been through exemplary collaboration and joint ownership between the private and public sector that DTCM has been able to deploy a comprehensive list of initiatives to be taken forth to implementation by relevant stakeholders. And today, we are pleased to announce one of the most strategic components – the annual Retail Calendar for Dubai,” added Al Marri.

Department of Economic development (DED) director general His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi said: “Retailing remains the dominant economic activity in Dubai with a share of up to 30 per cent in the emirate’s GDP and the sector will play a key role in Dubai achieving its tourism vision of receiving 20 million tourists a year by 2020. It’s important to consolidate efforts across Dubai to offer exceptional and high quality shopping experiences in terms of infrastructure, initiatives and incentives,”

Al Qamzi added: “Along with implementing varied initiatives to enhance ease of doing business and make shopping in Dubai a pleasant experience, the Department of Economic Development has been working closely with public and private sector entities to evolve innovative strategies that would reinforce Dubai as a preferred place to shop for visitors and residents alike.”

The calendar will be actively marketed internationally by Dubai Tourism to targeted markets and audience segments to drive increased traffic to Dubai as the destination for shopping.