by The Dubai Shopping Festival is referred as Layali Dubai in Arabic, it was started by the Dubai Government as a retail event to promote trade in Dubai. The government, in general, has taken major initiatives to promote the tourism structure in Dubai, and the success of the DSF is one of the successful ventures in the entire process. Rolling back to the year 1996, Dubai was an ‘in transit city’. The Dubai Shopping Festival has indeed changed the face of Dubai in the global world. During the years 1996 to 1999, people who arrived on international flights to this beautiful Emirati land were welcomed with a red rose and a box full of chocolate coated dates. These boxes were printed with patterns of the national colors red, green, white, and black. This small gesture of hospitality was one of the signs to the international community that Dubai has opened its arms and is welcomes people from across the globe.
It all started off with an extraordinary vision of the Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, which was executed under the watchful eyes of Mohammed Al Gergawi and Mohammed Alabbar. The DSF is a testimony also to the selfless hard work of several men and women, who were instrumental in bringing this idea into reality. The Dubai Shopping Festival had a very humble beginning from its first advertisement itself, where the Highness Shaikh Mohammed soliciting the public and other corporate investors to invest in the creative vision of DSF. He also stated that DSF is a celebration of our spirit of trade and adventure to the world.
The first season of the DSF was expected to generate sales worth Dh 1 billion. This raised the expectation of the visionaries to capture the interest of the region and the world through this festival. This would definitely drive the booming sectors such as hospitality and tourism that were expected to be key contributors to the Dubai economy. Post the launch of the DSF, the Dubai Commerce, and Tourism Promotion Board promoted the festival in Southeast Asian countries coupled with nation-wide advertising campaigns. They left nothing unturned in promoting DSF as a global brand with international road shows conducted regularly and the season was strategically planned to align with the holiday season worldwide. On March 26, 1996, DSF was declared as an annual event. Major sponsors started pouring in since the year 2000. The visionaries wanted to give back the sponsors at least 3 times their investment.
Since the year 2008, DSF is headed and monitored under the guidance of Laila Suhail, who is the CEO of Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE). She states that the success of the brand is primarily because of the passion and excitement showed by the visionaries ever since the brand was being planned, with other factors such as enormous hard work and dedication put in by several teams further enhancing its position year on year.
The idea of initiating a shopping festival was inspired by the Great Singapore Sale. The week long retail event was quite an interesting concept, which was further enhanced to a month-long shopping and entertainment extravaganza. This festival also gave rise to several shopping malls in the city, all equipped with modern world-class facilities. It also gave birth to the global shopping village, where you will find stalls and stations of every cultural environment across several countries, and thus bringing the world to Dubai. Since 15th February 1996, the entire city joins together in the festivities of the season. Held each year in the first quarters, you get visitors from all around the world to come over to Dubai to fulfill their shopping cravings. In addition to that, there are daily car lotteries and other exciting prizes to be won. With each passing year, the number of tourists and visitors are on the rise, which is one of the main reasons why the shop owners offer such mind-blowing discounts.
From a desert land with limited oil reserves, which was mainly famous for pearl fishing and trade, today Dubai has made its mark on the world map, and tourism in Dubai is one of the significant contributors to the growth of its economy. It is estimated that the revenue generated by the DSF is worth in billions. The foundation of this brand was built on team work and passion and it has helped Dubai position itself as a family destination and enhance its cosmopolitan outlook to the world. The steady rise of the brand DSF is something which the market pundits feel is worth discovering and is considered to be one of the most remarkable journeys of a brand.
