Role of Malls in Dubai Shopping Festival

Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) takes place every winter with its mammoth array of discounts, competitions, prizes, fireworks and entertainment. DSF offers amazing shopping discounts, attracting holiday makers from around the globe keen on grabbing a bargain. Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) started on February 15, 1996 as a retail event intended to revitalize retail trade in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It has since been promoted as a tourist attraction. This yearly month long event is usually scheduled during the first quarter of the year, attracting about 3 million people to Dubai.

It is the region’s largest and longest running shopping and entertainment extravaganza. DSF has had around 35 million visitors since 1996, who have spent close to Dh74 billion in shopping malls, airlines, hotels and entertainment outlets. In 2009 alone, visitors reached the 3. 35 million mark and spent Dh9. 8 billion in 32 days of the festival. During Dubai Shopping Festival, shops offer deep discounts on their merchandise, daily car raffles are drawn, and fireworks light Dubai’s night sky.

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Tourists from all around the world are lured not only for Dubai's tax free shopping, but also for all of the events that take place during the festival. In 2006, the festival was cancelled due to the death of Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. In addition to Dubai Shopping Festival, Dubai also hosts Dubai Summer Surprises. Dubai is sometimes called the 'city of gold'. The city of gold concept was coined during one of the Dubai Shopping Festival awareness campaigns.

In 1996, Dubai invited everyone from all around the world to a global annual festival which came to be named as the milestone "Dubai Shopping Festival" or DSF, they came up with the novel idea of a global village, a shopping village was conceived with all nations participating with their wares and styles in their traditional or cultural ways, the immigrant ex pat population and the fly in visitors rejoiced in the celebration that took place and the promise was given that from then on every year Dubai will host a festival for people from all around the world.

The years that followed brought in more visitors more exhibitors and now the stage were set to build on the reputation of hospitality. Dubai shopping festival was segregated into many major attractions all with one purpose, to have as many ways of entertaining the guests to the city, and catering to each and every individual segment's visiting from around the world, the loyalty of the local expatriate populations definitely finds a reason to become even more attached to the city that brings to them their own culture every year. Dubai Shopping Festival plays a vital role in Dubai's tourism industry.

Apart from the direct impact it has on the tourism industry, Dubai Shopping Festival also contributes its share of importance into the nervous system of the emirate. With the rise of the number of visitors to Dubai for Dubai Shopping Festival, lots of potential immigrant talent and investment get to experience the luxury of Dubai. Traditionally, the festival runs from mid-January to the end of February and it kicks off with a huge opening night that features light shows and fireworks across the Dubai Creek, which are then continued throughout the entire festival.

Other events associated with DSF range from in-mall fashion shows, musicians, street performers, jugglers and other entertainers. The one month long festival, with the slogan 'One Family, One World, One Festival', offers visitors some of the major and best brands in the world at lowest prices ever. Dubai has low import duties and no taxation, and therefore, offers amazing value to the bargain hunter. Even the major brands widely available are less expensive in Dubai, than in their country of origin. During DSF, Dubai becomes the most exciting shopping destination in the world.

Even the parks in Dubai will be used for various entertainment activities such as mini fun fair, space ship, Dubai Creek Tours, World of Ice, Flower Garden, Remote-control boats, Spiderman Zone, Park Taxis, Flower Garden, helicopter tours, Acrobatics Show and China Town. The streets in Dubai too, wear a colourful look, when they play host to DSF activities. Dubai Shopping Festival & Malls The Dubai Mall, also known as the home of Dubai shopping festival, is one of the world's largest shopping malls of UAE.

The Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping and entertainment destination and flagship mall development of Emaar Malls Group, is celebrating Dubai Shopping Festival 2012, the region’s largest shopping and entertainment extravaganza, by offering lucky shoppers prizes of up to AED 1 million. As a Strategic Partner of DSF 2012, The Dubai Mall’s DSF celebrations are based on the theme, ‘Just Imagine Having Everything You Desire,’ and will host an array of colorful entertainment activities, to be revealed in due course, assured to delight and surprise the visitors, from January 5 to February 5.

The Dubai Mall is welcoming the New Year offering our shoppers the opportunity to win an array of prizes that could change their lives for the better during DSF. “The partnership with DSF 2012 reflects our commitment to further support Dubai’s retail and tourism sector, while also adding value to our visitors. The region’s premier shopping and entertainment event, DSF will give a head-start to the business sector of Dubai by driving the growth of varied sectors – from retail to leisure, hospitality, aviation and tourism.

” During DSF, visitors to The Dubai Mall who shop for AED 300 or more at any of the participating outlets will get the opportunity to enter draws to win up to AED 1 million. Four couples will be selected, one every week, to win a first-class round trip to Milan, Paris, London and New York for five nights including 5-star hotel accommodation. Twenty lucky winners, five every week, also stand to win AED 25,000 each in National Bonds; in all AED 500,000 worth of National Bond certificates will be awarded through the festival.

The Dubai Mall’s Facebook page and Twitter social media platform will also host several competitions during DSF 2012 providing attractive prizes to visitors. A special online game has been tailored for the DSF 2012 online promotion; visitors only have to invite their fans to The Dubai Mall social media forums to win maximum points and clinch the prizes. Each week, one winner will be rewarded an Emaar Gift Card worth AED 5,000, through draws. Spectacular performances of every kind have started to liven up the malls across Dubai as they began captivating shoppers to the 16th (DSF).

The malls, which are among the strategic and key sponsors of DSF in the past and this year's editions, are alive with exciting events and international performances featuring lion show, walking lights acts, stilts walking, traditional dancing, children's adventures, juggling, unicycling and musical shows. This year's edition also witnesses many firsts. Among them is the spectacular Light and Sound Show at Wafi, the first to be held in the entire Gulf Region.

A synchronised light and sound featuring Egyptian-themed graphics, the event will be featured every night at the Wafi Central Courtyard. Mercato in Jumeirah has transformed into a magical old-time European court with a platform for stage shows where stunning performances are created and choreographed exclusively for Mercato shoppers. Mercato and its sister mall, Town Centre Jumeirah, will jointly run a Spend–to-Win promotion that entitles both malls' shoppers to enter a draw to win one of two Infiniti cars, FX 35 and M 37.

For every Dh200 spend, shoppers can claim one coupon to enter the draw. Emaar Malls Group is offering a range of leisure activities at SEGA Republic, the 22-screen Reel Cinemas, Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo and KidZania® in The Dubai Mall, and at the six-screen boutique Reel Cinemas at Dubai Marina Mall. SEGA Republic at The Dubai Mall, the first and largest of its kind indoor theme park in the region, offers special prizes every day from January 20 to February 20, where for every Dh100 spent by visitors, they enter a daily raffle draw to win annual Power Passes.

Additionally, the 100th customer who spends Dh100 at SEGA Republic, Dubai, will receive a complimentary Power Pass gift voucher. Outside the malls, DSF is marked with the Night Souq, fun fair areas and kiosks. DSF festivities were kicked off with brightly-lit streets at Dhiyafa, Al Seef and The Walk at Jumeirah Beach Residence as destinations of the festival this year. DSF 2012 (17TH EDITION) Shopping mall opening hours extended to midnight during weekends and for some malls during the week also for DSF 2012. Food court hours extended to 0100 in some malls.

DSF malls include Al Ghurair Centre, Arabian Mall, BurJuman Centre, Deira City Centre, Dubai Festival City, Dubai Marina Mall, Ibn Battuta Mall, Lamcy Plaza, Mall of the Emirates, Mercato Mall, Reef Mall, The Dubai Mall, Wafi City Mall DSF 2011 (16TH EDITION) Dubai International Jazz Festival 2011 from 20-28 January 2011 at JBR The Walk, 08-15 February 2011 at Dubai Media City Jazz Garden, 16-18 February 2011 (main events) at Dubai Media City. Al Seef Street (Bur Dubai) - night souk and other events. Al Rigga Street (Deira) - events

Al Diyafa Street (Bur Dubai) - events JBR The Walk (Dubai Marina) -events Global Village Heritage events at Shindaga Heritage Village and Dubai Diving Village. DSF Desert Camp - in Al Warqa 4 area from 20 January to 20 February 2011 Retailers and malls are hoping for stellar sales during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF). On the back of a strong year in 2011, in which many retailers enjoyed sales growth in excess of 10 per cent, retail executives are confident DSF's combination of promotions, events and tourist numbers will bolster this year’s revenue.

Jumbo Electronics, a multi-brand electronics store, projects that sales will jump 50 per cent during DSF compared with a normal month, and the retailer is spending more than Dh1 million (US$272,249) this year on advertising with radio and newspaper promotions and leaflets. DSF began largely as a shopping event, with time; it has also grown to be a great entertainment event. DSF plays a vital role in the tourism sector and retail sector of Dubai.