Dubai: Consumers looking for festive cheer can head to the Dubai Christmas Fest, which kicks off on Thursday at the Media City Amphitheatre.
The three-day festival features over 200 retailers, up from 100 last year, offering a range of products from leather bags, art prints, home decor and jewellery to toys, pottery, books and cupcakes.
“In the first edition, there were 80 retailers. Now it has grown significantly in terms of feature content [activities] and retail and shopping experience. It has grown significantly year-on-year to cope with demand,” Chris Fountain, managing director of Turrent Media, the festival’s organiser, said in a phone interview.
Exhibiting at the festival, now in its third year, are Borders, Al Maya supermarket, French Bakery, Aminata, Apple Seeds and Aquae Jewels, among others.
Consumers can expect to find discounts and special offers at the festival. For instance, confectionary brand ChoCo’a is offering a 15 per cent discount voucher with every purchase.
Retailers expect the Christmas season to give a boost to sales.
“December 23 to January 1 is a busy period for us. We expect a tripling of our turnover during this time compared to our yearly average sales,” said David Gau, operations manager at French Bakery.
He expects the company’s sales this Christmas to be around 30 per cent higher compared to last year, driven by its new products including Christmas cakes and gift boxes containing cookies, chocolates and macaroons.
The Christmas season is a time when retailers see sales grow as people head to shopping malls to shop and dine.
Retail sales during Christmas is driven by tourists, according to Nikola Kosutic, research manager at consultancy Euromonitor International.
“Shopping by tourists during Christmas is higher than other parts of the year. UAE residents shop too because of the promotions,” he said.
This year’s edition of the festival is expected to attract 30,000 visitors up from the 23,000 last year.
