Have you gone shopping during the Dubai Shopping Festival?

Have you gone shopping during the Dubai Shopping Festival?

The poll results are in.

February 8, 2009 12:55 by Aarti Nagraj

The gaudy lights and colorful banners on Dubai’s streets indicate the ongoing festivities in the city. But going by our poll results, not too many have been tempted by the Dubai Shopping Festival this year.

According to our poll, the majority of the voters, 42 percent, said “No”, they haven’t gone shopping this DSF; 24.5 percent are waiting for prices to decrease further; 6 percent said that they have already blown their budget; 20 percent of the respondents said that they have shopped a little; and 7.2 percent said that they hate shopping.

Running between January 15 and February 15, the 14^th edition of the festival saw an investment of AED75 million, Laila Suhail, CEO of the festival, told Gulf News recently. Last year’s festival attracted around 3.2 million visitors to Dubai, who spent around AED10 billion.

“With the global financial issues we are having right now, we are working with the retail sector to get even further discounts and make it easier for people to spend,” Suhail said adding that the focus this year is more on shopping rather than entertainment.

The government’s efforts don’t seem to be paying off.

Tags: budget, DSF 2009, Dubai Shopping festival, Financial Crisis, offers, People, poll, shopping, spending, visitors

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4 Comments

Roland on February 9, 2009 5:58 am

You should mention how many people responded to your poll, and how many were Dubai residents. Otherwise this article carries the same amount of credibility as a Gulf News article, which is usually based on the opinion of 5 people, 3 of whom are biased.
DG on February 9, 2009 8:04 am

Even with all the deals the best prices are still at least 20% higher than a great reference point http://www.amazon.com.
Dont bleive it ? Just check anything from a Nikon D90 camera to paid of Billabong Shorts. And this is Dubai when its 50% off ?
Geoffrey Melford on February 10, 2009 6:35 pm

Only naive tourists and depressed emotionally deprived shopaholics will shop in Dubai and frequent malls. The word has spread all over the globe that most goods in Dubai are fake, and all malls offer the same things and rip you off in the same manner. I consider DSF the Dubai Spending Festival and the Dubai Silly Festival; feel free to select anyone…
James on July 15, 2009 1:55 pm

I note the amazon comment… UK or US site – both much cheaper than Dubai prices! Sometimes half!! I don’t buy anything that isn’t urgent in Dubai – easy to ship in from overseas and the customer service is a million times better!
Sign up for an aramex shop and ship account to get your stuff here within the week for a great price! Amazon also deliver direct to here (the UK site deducts VAT at point of sale when shipping here which covers the shipping cost!)
This place is such a rip off nowadays!