10.22 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Visitor spend to hit Dh33bn: Qamzi

Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of the Department of Economic Development, addressing Future Retail conference in Dubai on Sunday (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Staff

Tourist spending in Dubai is expected to reach nearly Dh33 billion by 2017, said Sami Al Qamzi, Director General of the Department of Economic Development (DED).

Based on various sources and DED’s own estimates, Sami Al Qamzi said that Dubai’s retail sales in 2012 would be around Dh100 billion and that a conservative estimate for the years up to 2017 would be 4.5 per cent GDP growth per annum, with retail growth and population growth seen at about the same rate.

Retail purchases by visitors are expected to increase at a higher pace than for the resident population with  isitor purchases set to reach almost Dh33 billion by 2017, accounting for more than a quarter of total sales. Total sales are expected to increase at 5.7 per cent annually over the period 2013-2017.

The modern retail capacity that has been put in place in Dubai is impressive with gross leasing area in malls increasing at almost 25 per cent annually between 2000 until 2010.

Sami Al Qamzi also underlined the fact that Dubai is well positioned to lead online shopping and with more than Dh5.5 billion in 2010, it accounted for more than 45 per cent of total online-spending in the GCC.

Sami Al Qamzi was speaking at the Future Retail conference, which opened at the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel Dubai on December 8.

“While retail trade has always played an important role in Dubai’s growth, it has undergone major transformation and modernisation in the last 10 years.  Dubai’s economy has indeed grown at rapid pace since the beginning of the millennium, averaging 9.8 percent annually between 2001 and 2012. Both wholesale and retail trade has been a major contributor to this dynamics, with a value-added rising in real terms faster than overall GDP, at over 12 percent per year on the average,” he said.

Al Qamzi said that as a local and regional centre of tourism and shopping, Dubai is a potential destination for over six million UAE residents and close to 50 million GCC residents whose average per capita income is estimated at over Dh132,000. 

Highlighting the fact that more than 5.5 million tourists visited Dubai in the first half of 2013, a 11.1 per cent year-on-year increase, he said that Dubai was well on course to achieving its Tourism Vision for 2020 of attracting 20 million tourists and 300 billion dirhams in tourism revenues annually, of which a major share would come from retail sales.

“Hosting Expo 2020 is expected to accelerate tourist inflows further, which in turn will bolster retailing in Dubai. Preliminary assessments say that Expo 2020 could boost tourist arrivals to 25 million. The contribution of foreign visitors to retail is estimated at nearly 20 percent which is a strong indication of the importance of international tourism for Dubai’s retail.”

Laila Suhail, CEO of Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment, an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, and one of the headline speakers at Future Retail, said that the conference came at an exciting time for Dubai and its retail sector as the city’s successful bid to host Expo 2020 will give a significant boost to the retail and Dubai’s ambition to become the world’s number one retail hub, a goal set by His Highness, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The city is currently ranked 2nd in the world in terms of global brands attraction after London.