A huge number of passengers who use the services of Dubai International Airport in the first quarter of this year spent 1.25 billion dirhams (US $ 343 million) in Dubai Duty Free stores, which is 13% more than was spent for the same period in 2010 .
According to Colm McLaughlin, managing director of DDF, given such sales growth already at the beginning of the year, we can expect that the results at its end will be higher, in total, by 10%. And this despite the fact that 2010 was more than successful for Dubai Duty Free.
The most popular in the first months of 2011 were goods such as alcohol, perfumes and gold items. Perfume sales reached US $ 48 million - an increase of 16%. As for gold jewelry, here the level of sales increased by 13%, that is, rose to US $ 38 million. Sales of confectionery products increased by 8% at the beginning of the year to US $ 26 million, and sales of electronic goods reached US $ 25 million, which amounted to an increase of 13%.
The management of Dubai Duty Free also reported that in the first quarter of 2011, 136 additional employees were hired, as a result of which the total number of employees reached 4 thousand people.