It turns out, travelers are most sought consumers, as the latest data shows that global duty free and travel retail sales last year increased 7.5 percent from 2012. And Dubai Duty Free was named world’s top single airport retailer in a new research.
Latest analysis by travel retail statistics company Generation Research concluded that with record sales of $1.8 billion, Dubai Duty Free was the largest single-airport retail operation in the world in 2013. Based on data for last year, the researchers found that the retailer accounts for 5.19% of the $34.67 billion-worth global airport duty free business. It also generated nearly 3% off the entire duty free and travel retail sales, estimated at $60 billion for 2013, which is a 7.5 % increase from the previous year.
From 2008 to 2010, Dubai Duty Free also held the No.1 position, so this is the fourth time the Dubai International’s retailer tops the ranking, ahead of operations at international airports such as Seoul Incheon, London Heathrow and Singapore Changi. The estimates also show that duty free sales at airports in the Middle East reached $3.9 billion, an annual growth of 10%. And nearly half of these sales, or 45.73% of these sales were generated by Dubai Duty Free alone. At the same time, with a market share of 4.1%, the United Arab Emirates is the seventh largest market for duty free and travel retail sales in the world.
As the research shows positive growth sales for Dubai Duty Free, it predicts stable growth in this year, as well. The retailer also expects year end figures in 2014 to reach $1.9 billion. Annual passenger traffic at Dubai International reached nearly 66.5 million in 2013, up 15.2% from 2012 and it will probably grow even more. However, official data from Dubai Airports shows that the number of international passengers at the airport dropped 2.5% in May 2014 from May 2013. This slight decrease did not influence the growth, reported for the first five months of the year – from January to May 2014, the airline handled 29,608,364 passengers, a rise of 9.2% from the same period in 2013. As passenger numbers grow, retail sales will see an increase, too.
