Dubai Shopping Festival today and always!

On January 20, 2011, the 16th Dubai Trade Festival kicked off in Dubai - another holiday of luxury shopping and endless fun, which lasted 32 days under the slogan "One world. One family. One festival." On February 20, a curtain fell over the festival venues, but it's still worth remembering how it was - the 16th trading one.

Traditionally, throughout the festival, in the evenings on the festively decorated central streets of the city, carnivals and fireworks were held, night bazaars worked, offering, in addition to shopping arcades, game areas for visitors: with inflatable attractions, electronic games and slot machines. Numerous performances by circus, dance and folk groups from different countries were also held in the shopping centers of the city. Numerous clowns, jugglers, acrobats entertained everyone who went shopping on these festival days to any of the shopping centers participating in the holiday program. Every year, during the festival, an average of 1.6 million tourists and visitors from all over the world come to Dubai. For example, in 2009 the festival attracted 3.35 million tourists, and the total sales amounted to about 9.8 billion dirhams (US $ 2.6 billion). The figures for 2010, despite the consequences of the global financial crisis, were also rather optimistic, therefore, the organizers of the festival in 2011 prepared especially carefully.

In the exhibition hall of Dubai International Airport - AirportExpo - the annual “Carpet Oasis” worked, where this year about 170 thousand handmade carpets were presented, including the rarest and most unique, from Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, Turkmenistan and Bangladesh.

During the festival, the Desert Camp, a tent city for outdoor enthusiasts, was set up near the Mushreef public city park. There it was possible to rent an individual tent and take part in various entertainments, for example, to ride camels, horses or ATVs. In a specially organized market near the camp, traditional clothes, souvenirs and food were sold. For children, playgrounds were equipped.

Among the sports and entertainment events of the festival, one should mention the Dubai International Basketball Championship, which took place on the territory of the "Global Village", another venue that attracts more than 40 thousand visitors a day, thanks to a unique selection of folk art products of different nations, presented in thematic pavilions. This 80-minute theatrical "basketball" performance included "electrified" stunts on BMX bikes and skateboards.

During the festival, Downtown Burj Steps hosted several musical concerts by popular Arab artists, as well as a Dubai Rocks 2011 concert featuring famous Indian singers Sunidhi Chauhan and K.K. on the stage of Madinat Arena. In addition, on The Walk boardwalk daily with local, European and American blues and jazz performers.

In the Dubai Festival City area, all motorcycle enthusiasts were able to take part in the Dubai Bike Festival: visit the exhibition of the newest and most fashionable bikes, look at the tricks of acrobats on motorcycles and even attend a concert of the infamous Amy Winehouse.

The Dubai Trade Festival is a time of numerous raffles and lotteries, which residents and guests of the city are aware of and are happy to take part in. This year, within the framework of the traditional Nissan Grand Raffle lottery, cars of the brands Patrol, Armada, X-Trail, Murano, Xterra, Pathfinder, Qashqai were played daily. The jewelery group Dubai Gold & Jewelery Group held the Bag of Fortune lottery, where 21 kg of gold worth a total of 3.5 million dirhams (US $ 952 thousand) was raffled off. During the festival, many Dubai shopping centers also hosted interesting and attractive promotions supported by key sponsors of the event, which, according to long-established traditions, are such groups as Visa, Emirates Airlines, Pepsi, Dubai Duty Free and many other large companies.

During the Dubai Trade Festival, a drawing of the already traditional Lexus Mega Raffle lottery took place. Lottery ticket holders got a unique chance to win a Lexus LX570 daily and a cash prize of 100 thousand dirhams (US $ 27,210).

On the lottery tickets purchased during the festival, a super prize was won - a Lexus LS600hL car. The Lexus Mega Raffle lottery has been held as part of the Dubai Trade Festival since 1996. During this time, a total of 1361 cars of this brand were raffled off.

Of course, in order to become participants in the lotteries, buyers had to spend certain amounts in shopping centers in the city covered by festival fever. Who became the most active participant in DTF-2011? According to the Visa payment system, they came from the UK, spending US $ 9.2 million on purchases only in its first week.

Following the British, buyers from the United States actively spent their savings - during the first week of the festival, they left a total of US $ 3 million in stores and boutiques of Dubai's malls. Chinese shopping lovers broke their own record last year, spending US over the specified period $ 5.4 million, which is 155% more than in 2010. US Visa credit card holders spent US $ 6.2 million using them

The top ten active buyers of DTF also included residents of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, India and France.

One of the largest banks in the Middle East region, Emirates NBD, for the 16th consecutive year participated in the DTF as a sponsor. This year, Emirates NBD has prepared for its customers a special offer called "Triple The Fun". Emirates NBD customers who paid for their purchases during the festival with bank credit cards were eligible to participate in the prize lottery. The prizes of this lottery, played every day, were: 30 trips for two for 2 nights to such cities as the winner, such as Istanbul, Cairo, Colombo, Beirut, Amman and Salalah, 30 prizes in the form of a 100% refund (maximum 5 thousand dirhams) spent on purchases during the festival, and 0% interest on installment purchases of jewelry, furniture, household appliances and electronics at 300 company stores and outlets participating in the festival.

It is impossible to tell about everything that happened every hour in the city for 32 days. True, I especially want to note the vivid and unusual performances of numerous artists, both adults and children from Russia, whom Tatyana Entertainment has been bringing to Dubai for 16 years in a row. The Dubai Trade Festival 2011 is over, but he doesn’t say goodbye to us, but says: "Goodbye and see you soon!". See you in the winter of 2012!

Watch the video: Dubai Shopping Festival 2017 VLOG (March 2024).