Photo: Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free CEO and EVC, strikes a pose with the company’s employees during celebrations marking DDF’s 35th anniversary. (Contributed photo)
Dubai Duty Free (DDF) recently celebrated its 35th year with funfair highlighted by surprise draws and a three-day 25% discount on a wide range of merchandises, with its chief executive officer thanking their Filipino staff – numbering over 2,400 of the 6,200 employees – for helping make the establishment a success.
“I thank the Filipino staff very much for their part in our success. I am happy that we have become the single largest duty free airport in the world,” Colm McLoughlin, who also is DDF’s executive vice chairman, told The Filipino Times.
“They have been very important to us and I encourage them to continue to work hard,” he added.
Filipinos comprise a third of DDF’s workforce, which has a total of 6,200 people from 45 countries, according to McLoughlin.
“They are in all areas of Dubai Duty Free,” he said.
“Many of them are in management areas (like) duty managers, supervisors, senior supervisors and a lot of sales people. They are very good and I am very happy with them. We have promoted many of them through the years,” McLoughlin said, whose personal assistant, he said, is also Filipina.
In the picture are just a few of the 2,300 Filipino staff currently employed by Dubai Duty Free.
The DDF anniversary promotion is now a highly-anticipated event with many travelers choosing to travel on the days when the 25% discount is offered. The first anniversary sale Dubai Duty Free introduced was on its 20th anniversary in 2003.
Of the original 100 staff who joined DDF in December 1983, 26 remain in active service and are referred to as the “pioneers.”
