UAE. Dubai Duty Free has welcomed the first big influx of Chinese arrivals to Dubai International Airport (DXB) since 2020.
Chinese travellers arriving at Terminals 1 and 3 from key cities in China – including Beijing, Shanghai, Xianyang, Shenzhen and Chengdu – were greeted by the Chinese Vice Consul General to Dubai Wang Yi and Dubai Duty Free Vice President HR Services Delivery Yousef Al Khalid.
Dubai Duty Free management and Chinese staff, along with officials from the Chinese Consulate in Dubai, presented gift packs to the arriving Chinese nationals. The curated gift pack included a consulate booklet about the UAE, Dubai Duty Free promotional flyers in Mandarin and other gift items.
Dubai Duty Free Executive Vice Chairman & CEO Colm McLoughlin said: “China remains one of our key markets at Dubai Duty Free, accounting for 7.15% of our business. We are delighted to see the growing number of Chinese travellers coming to Dubai and it was good to have this special welcome reception.”
Other attendees from Dubai Duty Free included Senior Manager Retail Sales Salim Ibrahim and Manager Resourcing & Employee Development Sunshine Bian, along with representatives of the Chinese consulate Commercial Consular Wu Yi and Consul He Chao. Officials from Dubai Airports, Immigration and Dubai Police were also present.
Dubai Duty Free employs 314 Chinese staff and is intent on attracting more Chinese customers. Its efforts include targeted promotions and special products concentrating on relevant themes such as Chinese New Year and Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, dual signage in English and Mandarin, and providing payment options such as WeChat Pay, UnionPay and Alipay.
Dubai Duty Free is also active on two Chinese social media platforms, WeChat and Weibo, with almost 120,000 followers across both platforms.
As reported, Dubai Duty Free was named the ‘Best Global Partner’ by Trip.com Group at the Global Partner Summit in Singapore. The airport retailer was recognised for its outstanding performance and strategic partnership with Ctrip, one of the companies under Trip.com Group. 
