COUNTDOWN TO DUBAI SHOPPING FESTIVAL BEGINS

With just several weeks to go, the countdown to the Dubai Shopping Festival 2001 is underway. Organisers are gearing up to play host to a huge number of visitors and shoppers at the month-long festival, which promises to be bigger and better than ever before, featuring even more events, more shopping bargains and more prizes to be won than during the previous five Festivals.

The festival will run from March 1 to 31 under the theme One World One Family One Festival and for the sixth successive year, Dubai will be decorated in millions of lights and colourful banners to welcome hundreds of thousands of visitors who will mingle with residents at the unique festival.

In five years, the Dubai Shopping Festival has grown by leaps and bounds, making Dubai one of the most sought-after destinations. The Festival's formula of a unique collaboration between government departments and the public sector has paid rich dividends, and boosted the retail sector.

Dubai Shopping Festival 2000 saw visitor numbers and sales crossing all-time records. Foreign visitors increased by eight per cent. Among them, European visitors went up from 122,000 to 156,000, an increase of 28 per cent. According to a Dubai Shopping Festival study, 63 per cent of the Europeans said they would come back to Dubai for Dubai Shopping Festival 2001.

The overall visitors rose to 2.5 million, against 1999 figures of 2.4 million. Total sales crossed US$1.3 billion against US$1.25 billion in 1999. The average size of a travelling party was higher, the average length of stay went up, and hotel revenues increased. The significant increase in the number of overseas and European visitors is seen by the organizers as yet another proof that the Festival has joined the league of major global festivals.

Dubai Shopping Festival 2000 made headlines with an unheard-of raffle giving away a total of 31 Rolls Royce luxury cars, making 31 lucky people proud owners of the most coveted car in the world. Another 31 Nissan Patrol 4-wheel drives were raffled in a citywide purchase-linked promotion.

The City of Gold promotion, conducted by the Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group, boosted sales at jewellery stores, fueled by the daily prize of 1 kilo of gold and the grand prize of 25 kilos of gold.

DSF 2001 Events

The sixth DSF will have a new look, with a strong focus on live concerts, plays, cartoon shows, street entertainment, fashion shows and promotions with a difference. The Festival will feature many new events in addition to those which have proved popular in the past five years. Among the highlights are concerts featuring top-notch Arab and international singers; a Arabic play; three international shows featuring cartoon characters; an international fashion week; three major international sporting events and all the usual DSF attractions such as Global Village, Carpet Oasis, daily raffles, street performances, fireworks, etc.

The feast of sports lined up during DSF 2001 includes the prestigious US$ 15 million Dubai World Cup, the world’s richest horse race, which will take place on 24 March, the Dubai Desert Classic, in which the world’s No. 1 golfer Tiger Woods is scheduled to play, and the Dubai Tennis Open featuring some of the world’s topmost tennis stars.