1996: Dubai Shopping Festival's inaugural year was a resounding success. It attracted more than 1.6 million visitors and generated revenues of more than Dh2 billion.
1997: Sales figures jumped to Dh2.79 billion, while visitor numbers remained the same. It was also this year that the Global Village made its debut at the Creek.
1998: DSF introduced "Children of the World Meet in Dubai" in 1998, which attracted huge numbers of families to Dubai. This was also the year when the ‘Nissan Patrol A Day' Super Safari raffle was added to the festival, and two high-profile sporting events made their debut on the DSF calendar — the ATP Dubai Tennis Open and the European PGA's Dubai Desert Classic.
1999:The Festival theme was later changed to "The Biggest Family Gathering of the Millennium". Sales increased 8.92 per cent over the previous year.
2000: The growing tourist arrivals saw an interesting rise in the number of European visitors as well, highlighting DSF's global appeal. This was the year when DSF formally introduced its theme — "One World. One Family. One Festival" — that it has used ever since. It attracted a record 2.5 million visitors.
2001: Thirty-one Rolls Royce cars on raffle raised the bar higher for big promotions in the region, not to mention the $100,000 prize in the ‘To Mother With Love' promotion. Hotel revenues increased from Dh450 million to Dh480 million.
2002: 2.68 million visitors — five per cent more than the previous year — ensured yet another successful DSF. It was prizes galore: in addition to the usual 31 Nissan Patrols, two Lexus cars and Dh200,000 in cash and 41kg of gold were also given away.
2003: Several new tourism and retail concepts were introduced such as the Night Souq, and the Desert Camp, which captured the thrill of adventure in its own distinct way.
2004: The new concept of Dubai Fashion 2004 featured top fashion houses like Dior, Christian Lacroix, Givenchy and Emanuel Ungaro. The festival registered 3.1 million visitors and the visitor spend touched Dh5.80 billion.
2005: The festival registered 3.3 million visitors who spent Dh6.67 billion. And for this 10th special edition, mind-boggling raffle promotions such as the Lexus Mega Raffle gave away two top-of-the-range cars plus Dh100,000 per day.
2006-2007: This was a combined 11th and 12th edition. Commencing on December 20, 2006, the double edition was also the longest, spanning 45 days, ending on February 2, 2007.
2008: A new and innovative marketing slogan, "The Fifth Season", was introduced to reflect DSF's increasingly growing stature. With more than 3,500 retail shops and 40 state of the art shopping malls offering discounts, this DSF transformed Dubai into the shopping haven of the region.
2009: This Shopping Festival generated impressive visitor and spending figures in its 14th edition. Around 3.35 million visitors spent approximately Dh9.8 billion in 32 days, proving the popularity of DSF and Dubai's position as an attractive destination.
