Dubai Duty Free posts +103% first-half sales growth; Q2 falls only -12.6% short of 2019 levels : Moodie Davitt Report

UAE. Dubai Duty Free’s revival from its COVID-prompted slump of 2020 and 2021 is gaining encouraging momentum with first-half sales surging +103% year-on-year to US$777 million (2021 H1 was just US$383.4 million).

A more telling number is that H1 2022 sales were just -20.52% short of the equivalent period in pre-pandemic 2019. And in a stellar second quarter, sales reached US$395.8 million, +109% up year-on-year and only -12.6% short of Q2 2019’s US$452.7 million.

The numbers tell a hugely encouraging narrative of surging first-half recovery with a rapid acceleration in Q2; Source: Dubai Duty Free (click on chart to expand)

A surge in passenger volumes married to impactful collaborations with brand partners, an outstanding core range, the opening of new stores such as Louis Vuitton, and a successful destination merchandise business are combining to bring the good times back at Dubai Duty Free {Pictures below: Martin Moodie, June 2022}

The sales growth has been largely driven by fast-recovering passenger traffic. As reported, Dubai International Airport (DXB) posted a +161.9% first-half traffic surge to 27.9 million. That figure is just 1.2 million short of the total achieved in the whole of 2021 and represents 67.5% of traffic recorded in pre-pandemic H1 2019.

In Q2, DXB served 14.2 million passengers, a year-on-year rise of +190.6%.

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