Revealed: List of all the major retail sales events in Dubai in 2019

Dubai has officially revealed a list of the main retail sales and promotions that are slated to be held in the emirate next year.

The retail calendar was released by the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) and Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE) – part of Dubai Tourism.

A total of 18 events over 247 days will be held in Dubai next year, compared to 12 events over 178 days in 2018, a statement said.

The promotions will also cover a broader range of product categories and brand segments and offer a reduction in fees for all small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The retail calendar has been developed with inputs from 18 major retail and mall groups in Dubai and has also been synchronised with the global and domestic retail and fashion cycles.

It is hoped to help Dubai’s retail sector grow a further 5.6 per cent from Dhs128.45bn in 2018, to reach Dhs160.7bn by 2021, the statement added.

According to the DED and the DFRE, the 2019 initiative, now in its third year of operations, will mainly help in –

1. Ensuring acceleration across Dubai’s retail economy

2. Supporting greater SME contribution

3. Enabling increased profitability with a rise in spend from both residents and tourists

Helal Almarri, director general of Dubai Tourism said: “The retail sector is a high priority for Dubai Tourism – in addition to increasing the number of international visitors to the emirate, we are also focused on significantly enhancing the economic value created (across all travel related industries) to our GDP.

“We’ve already seen great success with events such as Chinese New Year and Diwali, aimed at two of our top source markets and building on this, we’ve added ‘Russian Holiday’ during Dubai Shopping Festival in January 2019 timed with their peak travel to leverage growing Russian traffic to Dubai and their affinity for shopping.”

A new ‘Home Festival’ event has also been added, focussing on promotions across all homeware, home appliances and furniture retailers.

Sami Al Qamzi, DED director general said: “The retail sector is a key contributor to Dubai’s thriving economy and makes up a considerable volume of the emirate’s GDP. We are committed to consolidating efforts across Dubai to offer exceptional and high quality experiences in terms of infrastructure, initiatives and incentives.

“It is our key priority to enhance greater competitiveness of the retail industry in Dubai, while ensuring a healthy bottom line for all participants to sustain growth. Combining retail with events and promotions has allowed us to streamline various activations across the year, to accelerate the success of Dubai’s retail model, whilst allowing us to collectively focus on increasing the GDP contribution of the sector to Dubai.”

The 2019 edition is set to launch on December 26, 2018, the opening day of the Dubai Shopping Festival which this year has been extended for a further full week based on feedback from retailers.

Here’s the complete list-

Dubai Shopping Festival

Russian Holidays

Dubai Shopping Festival Final Sale

Chinese New Year

Dubai Food Festival

Spring/Summer ‘19 Collection Launch

Home Festival

Ramadan in Dubai

Eid in Dubai (x2)

Dubai Summer Surprises

Dubai Summer Surprises Final Sale

Back to School Season

Fall/Winter ‘19 Collection Launch

Diwali

Dubai Fitness Challenge

3-Day Super Sale (x2)

Gifting Weekend