Dubai Duty Free (DDF) is expecting to generate total duty free sales of US$1.9bn by the full end of this calendar year (next week), following on from its sales turnover of US$1.85bn achieved in 2016.

 

As reported by TRBusiness last year, Incheon International Airport claims to have hit total sales of $2bn in 2016, so claiming the crown of top duty free airport at that time. However, 2017 has subsquently been a very tough period for South Korea – particularly with stayaway Chinese tourists.

 

WHO WILL BE NUMBER ONE IN 2017?

By contrast it has been good for Dubai Airport and especially following the recent sales boost from its 34th Anniversary 25% discount period.

 

This generated a total of US$54m in just three days, with DDF now predicting full-year sales will end at around $1.9bn. Over the three-day period (18, 19 and 20 December), the cash registers recorded a total of 375,000 sales transactions, with nearly 107,000 transactions alone on 20th December.

 

 

As is well known, DDF sells huge volumes of duty free goods and this year is no different as its nine-month volume sales indicators show for the period between January and September 2017.

 

VERY STRONG VOLUME SALES

As an indicator of these volumes – based on this nine-month sales period – Dubai Duty Free sold a total of 7.1m cans of beer; 2.1m bottles of whisk(e)y; 1.2m bottles of wine; 5.2m bottles of liquor (all categories of spirits); 3.1m cartons of cigarettes; 12.3m cigars; 2m pieces of makeup and skincare products; 2m bottles of perfume; 57,397 pair of sunglasses, 66,328 handbags and small leathergoods products; 168,122 watches; 62,460 cameras and accessories, 59, 573 mobile phones and a whole lot more.

 

For last year’s report on Incheon’s record sales in 2016, click here: https://www.trbusiness.com/regional-news/asia-pacific/incheon-airport-duty-free-sales-hit-us2bn-in-2016/114119