Dubai: Consumers in the UAE are motivated by value in 2018, according to a senior government official handling the retail sector.

Prices have gone up since the introduction of a five per cent value added tax (VAT) on January 1, with UAE residents voicing their concern at the rising cost of living.

According to a study conducted by yallacompare, the price comparison website, almost half of the UAE’s residents were “worried” about their living costs increasing due to VAT.

“UAE consumers are very value driven these days,” said Mohammad Feras Arayqat, director of retail registration at the Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), in a telephone interview with Gulf News on Tuesday.

DFRE is the government agency responsible for shopping festivals, and recently oversaw the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), a month-long sale running from December 26 to January 22.

According to Arayqat, it “might have been the case that consumers shopped [more heavily] in the five days before January 1 New Years because of VAT,” but even after, the agency still saw a good footfall and spend.

He attributed this to a drive from the UAE’s residents to save money.

As a result of this appetite for a discount, he added, the government body had enjoyed “quite a successful DSF this year, with 3,000 outlets and 752 brands participating.”

Particularly fruitful had been DFRE’s attempt to drive footfall to malls on Friday mornings, a typically quiet time for retailers in the UAE.

“Our Friday Surprises initiative saw a 200 per cent increase in footfall and spending on Friday mornings,” Arayqat said.

Refusing to comment on the potential oversupply of retail space in Dubai, highlighted by analysts as a point of concern in the coming years, the official instead drew attention to the government agency’s efforts to promote local fashion designers.

In order to boost the domestic market, it has launched a competition to find the best UAE-based fashion designers.

The winner will receive a “retail space in one of the big malls,” Arayqat said.

Late last year, Saeed Al Falasi, executive director for retail at DFRE, told Gulf News that given the success of the agency’s two super sales in 2017, which saw prices slashed by up to 90 per cent for 72 hours, from this year onwards he intended to market the shopping festival to other Gulf countries.

“We feel like the brand has built up enough stamina to market it in the region. That’s what the retailers want too,” he said.