Duty free shopping at Al Ghuaifat

Travellers using the Al Ghuaifat border post can now do their last-minute shopping at a newly built duty free outlet at the border.

Abu Dhabi Duty Free has built a Dh5 million outlet as well as a cafe for motorists and travellers between the UAE and Saudi Arabia at the Ghuaifat border post, the first of its kind in the entire Middle East region.

The concept of a border duty free shop has been successful in many European countries and in North America.

The new premises, built on 500 square metres, was officially opened on Tuesday by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). There is also a 32-car parking area to accommodate the increasing traffic on the border.

After opening the border shop, Sheikh Hamdan said the outlet will serve thousands of travellers daily.

"The facility will provide excellent shopping services at very competitive prices," he noted.

Sheikh Hamdan added that the idea of setting up a duty free shop in the area was adopted in view of the increase in the number of passengers using land transport via Al Ghuaifat every year.

"In addition, we also conducted a market survey, the results of which supported the idea of opening the outlet at the border," he said.

He pointed out that the residents of Ghuaifat and Sila'a can also benefit from the facility.

However, only travellers using the border are entitled to purchase tobacco, perfumes and cosmetics.

The Civil Aviation Department chairman said the opening of more such outlets cannot be ruled out. He noted that if the Ghuaifat project receives a good response and proves successful, "we may plan to build more, especially at the Oman border post".

The opening ceremony was also attended by Chairman of Abu Dhabi Customs, Mohammed Saleh bin Bidwa Al Darmaki, Tarif Police Director, Colonel Mohammed Butti Al Rumaithi, and heads of Ghuaifat customs, immigration and police.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia also attended the opening ceremony. They included heads of Saudi immigration, customs and police departments at the Al Batha border.

The duty free shop is located at a very convenient place for traffic moving in both directions, and has been designed by the Engineering Department of the DCA, which also supervised the construction work carried out by a local contracting company.

Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Airport Catering and Duty Free (ADDF), Mohammed Mounib, said the outlet is expected to receive about 1.5 million people passing through the border every year.

He noted: "Around 1.5 million people per year pass through the land between UAE and Saudi Arabia, either inbound tourists visiting the country or residents going for Haj and Umra, or travelling overland to their home countries for vacations.

"This a new departure for us and we have put a great deal of time and effort into perfecting the smallest details."

He added that the outlet is expecting a Dh15 million turnover in the first year of operation.

Mounib also said that in the first nine days, before the official opening, the duty free shop posted sales figures of Dh170,000 and proved its worth.