Dubai Duty Free has announced that sales in April reached a remarkable Dhs713 million (US$195.4 million), marking a new record for the month of April. This represents an 18% increase over April 2024 and positions April as the fourth best month on record for the airport retailer since operations began.

Commenting on the April figures, Ramesh Cidambi, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free said, “November and December 2024 were record months, joined by January 2025, so it is great to see that April sales are in the top four monthly sales rankings now. April was a busy month passenger-wise with Eid holidays, Easter and the Arabian Travel Market pushing up passenger numbers. However, as far as we know, sales outstripped passenger numbers, which is a very positive indicator for us”.

In April, the top five product categories sold were Perfumes, Liquor, Tobacco, Gold and Confectionery. Perfume sales reached Dhs128.72 million (US$35.26 million) contributing 18% of total revenue and showing an increase of 16% over the same month last year. Liquor followed closely with sales of Dhs92.50 million (US$25.34 million) an increase of 13%, while Tobacco saw a 25% increase year-on-year with sales of Dhs73.95 million (US$20.26 million). Gold sales amounted to Dhs71.57 million (US$19.61 million), contributing 10% of total revenue and an increase of 35%. Confectionery continued to demonstrate strong growth, achieving Dhs69.54 million (US$19.05 million), marking an 84% increase from the same month last year and accounting for 10% of total revenue.

The Fashion boutiques in Terminal 3’s Concourse A and B combined outperformed their sales from last April, recording a 12% increase. This is notable, considering that these boutiques have been lagging in sales since the first quarter of 2024.

The Preloved luxury segment, which is available in the airport retailer’s Reklaim outlets, delivered impressive results of Dhs9 million since it was introduced in December 2024 of which Dhs3.52 million (US$ 0.97 million) was generated in April alone. Meanwhile, the viral Dubai chocolate continued its remarkable success story with sales hitting Dhs28.60 million (US$7.84 million) in April, which is an average of Dhs1 million (US$274,000) sales per day.

Other notable performers include ticket sales for the milestone Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire Series 500, which was sold out within a record 7 days, underscoring strong demand for this popular promotion and adding to the total Millennium Millionaire sales for April of Dhs21 million (US$ 5.26 million).

“This robust performance can be seen across all categories both in-store and online, with online sales increasing by 3% in April. We are also seeing an increase in the average passenger spend and that is also very encouraging,” said Cidambi.

Sales in Departures across the operation reached Dhs638.27 million (US$174.87 million) representing 90% of total monthly sales and an increase of 19% compared to the same period last year, while Arrivals sales reached Dhs51.22 million (US$14.04 million), representing 7% of total sales and an increase of 17% over April last year.

In terms of top source markets for Dubai Duty Free, India is number one with Dhs72.14 million (US$19.76 million) sales, followed by Russia with Dhs54.62 million (US$14.97 million), Saudi Arabia with Dhs51.23 million (US$14.03 million), China with Dhs39.25 million (US$10.75 million), and the UK in fifth place with sales of Dhs36.19 million (US$9.92 million).