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Dubai Duty Free Ranked Number One

Independent industry experts Generation Research placed Dubai Duty Free ahead of London Heathrow and Seoul Incheon International Airport who both just exceeded the $1 billion sales mark.

With sales of $1.1 billion in 2008, Dubai Duty Free accounted for five per cent of the airport duty free business and three per cent of the wider duty free and travel retail global business.

Dubai International Airport, or DIA, is home to Dubai Duty Free, which recorded a double-digit growth year-on-year in passenger traffic during June.

DIA, the sixth busiest airport in the world in terms of international passenger traffic volumes, handled 19.5 million passengers during the first six months, which is five per cent up from a year earlier.

Passenger traffic at the airport jumped 10.3 per cent to 3.36 million in June at the three terminals handled by the company.

In 2008, the global duty free and travel retail business rose to $37 billion, an increase of 8.8 per cent over the previous year, from which airport duty free sales accounted for $21.8 billion.

“For the past several years Dubai Duty Free has been listed amongst the top three airport retailers in the world in terms of sales. Therefore it is a great achievement to be placed at the top,” Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and Chairman of Dubai Airports, said.

In June, Dubai Duty Free won the crown of ‘Best Duty Free Shopping’ in the world in the 2009 World Airport survey conducted by Skytrax. The UK-based consultancy group interviewed 8.6 million passengers at 196 airports on all aspects of their travel experience.

Dubai Duty Free came out tops in the best duty free shopping category, ahead of Singapore Changi Airport and Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com