QATAR. Qatar Duty Free (QDF) has announced record-high revenues for its latest financial year (April 2022-March 2023), with sales up +59% compared to 2021-2022 and an impressive +45% over 2019-2020.
The hugely encouraging performance was driven by a more than +49% year-on-year uplift in sales per passenger (SPP).
In another key indicator, QDF also achieved a robust +26% turnover growth in the 2022 calendar year compared to pre-pandemic 2019.
 Such results don’t just happen nor are they simply driven by Hamad International Airport’s strong passenger growth, as the surge in sales per passenger reveals. |
Qatar Duty Free Vice President Thabet Musleh said: “This was a fantastic year for Qatar Duty Free, our home Hamad International Airport and the Qatar Airways Group. We are honoured to have played a significant role in the FIFA World Cup tournament, the tremendous airport expansion project and many other significant events in the country.”
He added: “Our goal was to offer an unforgettable and seamless travel experience to all the passengers, and we successfully achieved that goal. I would like to thank all members of the QDF community for their unprecedented and continuous support.
“Our financial results represent our tremendous success, and we look forward to showcasing many more triumphs and achievements in 2023.”
The Qatar Airways Group-owned travel retailer attributed the historic revenues to its “revolutionary retail experience”, the innovative new dining and shopping offer in the South node and the brand-new Central Concourse in the Hamad International Airport (HIA) expansion opened late last year.
According to HIA’s annual traffic report, 35.7 million passengers were served in 2022, achieving more than double year-on-year growth (+101.9%) and a rise of +92.1% against the 2019 level.
Traffic was bolstered by a series of key events during last year, including the unveiling of airport expansion project Phase A and Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Underlining the impact of the World Cup on QDF sales, November and December 2022 turnover soared by more than +112% compared to the same period in 2021.
As the Official Retail Partner for the global football tournament, QDF sales were strengthened by offering one of the largest collections of FIFA Official World Cup merchandise, souvenirs and collectibles.
The FIFA merchandise was sold by QDF throughout the eight stadiums built to stage the FIFA World Cup in Doha, in the official FIFA Fan Zone, and in the world’s first permanent FIFA store and various other stores inside the airport.
At the end of the tournament, QDF was estimated to have achieved approximately 459,000 transactions at the FIFA stores, with 1.4 million total units sold during and after the tournament.
As a result, merchandise sales for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar were +46% higher than in the previous Russia-staged FIFA World Cup tournament in 2018.
QDF sales in FY 2022-23 were bolstered by the introduction of an extensive new luxury offer as part of the HIA expansion, which features an impressive line-up of world-renowned retail brands.
The enhanced retail offer features many world and regional firsts, including the first Dior boutique at HIA, a duplex Fendi boutique complemented by the first airport Fendi Café, the first TimeVallée boutique in the Middle East, and the first Ralph’s Coffee Shop [from the Ralph Lauren brand] in an airport.
In the South Node, QDF also unveiled numerous new retail and F&B outlets, including new Louis Vuitton and Hermès boutiques and a food court offering an extensive array of cuisines. 
They are, in fact, the culmination of a cocktail of vision, commitment, passion, investment and innovation.