Dubai Duty Free (DDF) announced it has achieved its annual sales target of Dhs7.3 billion or US$2 billion with a retired couple from Denmark who, with their purchase of a Nikon D5300 SLR Camera worth Dhs1,999, tipping the sales over the milestone target in the early morning of Dec. 29.
“2018 has been a good year for Dubai Duty Free, and we have been building up towards the US$2 billion sales figure all year. We have been tracking the sales figures hour by hour over the past couple of days and it is fantastic to have achieved this figure before the end of the year,” said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Duty Free
He added, “It is appropriate at this time to acknowledge the tremendous team effort that goes into running an operation of this size and I would like to extend my thanks to our Chairman, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum for his ongoing support and commitment. A big thank you to our customers, our suppliers and of course our team of staff who, keep the operation running 24 hours a day.”
Some 2,400 of DDF’s 6,200 employees are Filipinos holding positions from senior supervisor to sales staff.
The couple, Mr. and Mrs Christensen were presented with a DDF gift card for US$2,000 by Dubai Duty Free officials including Saba Tahir – Senior Vice President Purchasing, Allan Chapman -Vice President IT & Logistics, Kaiser Imtiaz – Senior Buyer, Salim Ibrahim – Operation Manager, Duty Managers Edmond Saldanha and Hazel Punongbayan and Duty Officer Jasmin Javelosa.
Paul and Annelise Christensen were transiting Dubai for the first time from Copenhagen to Sydney for their wedding anniversary. They were both delighted and surprised to hear the good news 50 minutes prior to their flight to Sydney on EK 414.
Speaking with a DDF representative, Mr. Christensen said ,“My wife wanted to purchase gold and with this $2,000 gift card she can buy all the gold that she wants.”
