Dubai: The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) may be ending soon, but there are still some big prizes to be won.
Organisers announced on Sunday that at least 20 more iPhone X phones, apart from a 2018 Jeep Cherokee, are still to be given away at Dubai Festival City (DFC).
The mall has so far distributed more than Dh200,000 worth of prizes to visitors through its “Spend and Win” bonanza, which is part of the DSF campaign.
Shoppers have until this weekend to bag one of Apple’s most expensive phones, or the grand prize Jeep Cherokee, estimated to be worth $27,285 (more than Dh100,000), provided they spend at least Dh250 at any shop in DFC.
The 23rd edition of the bargain bonanza, which kicked off in late December 2017 and ends on Saturday, has so far been instrumental in driving the sales for many businesses in the UAE, with retailers and mall operators reporting an increase in receipts and footfalls during the first half of DSF. Airlines and companies in the financial services sector have also seen an upswing in business.
The number of DSF visitors at DFC, Mercato and Nakheel Malls, for example, went up by 10 per cent year-on-year, while Majid Al Futtaim Properties, which has Mall of the Emirates (MOE) in its portfolio, reported “robust increases” in footfall numbers during the first two weeks of DSF.
According to Visa, there has been an increase in card usage among shoppers during the DSF period, citing that payment transactions with DSF-participating merchants went up by 27 per cent, when compared to the previous edition of DSF.
One of the region’s biggest carriers, Emirates, also noted that there has been a considerable amount of traffic into Dubai during the DSF period.
“Along with a steady stream of visitors from the [United Kingdom, United States], France, Spain and Australia, we have also seen an increase in visitors from Russia, Pakistan, Netherlands and Egypt,” said Shaikh Majid Al Mualla, divisional senior vice president commercial operations, centre for Emirates.
“We are pleased with the initial feedback that we had received from our stakeholders on the impact of DSF on their businesses. Indeed, these positive economic indicators for the first half of DSF augur well for the remaining period of the festival,” said Ahmed Al Khaja, chief executive officer, Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).
The last day of DSF will be on January 27, Saturday.
