The efforts of Dubai Shopping Festival office and the city’s malls are promoting Dubai as the finest shopping and entertainment destination not only in the region but also around the world. This was stated yesterday by Fareed Abdel Rahman, Vice-President of Deira City Centre.

He stressed the mall’s role in DSS 2007 and the positive impact of the festival on shopping trends.

“Deira City Centre, one of the shopping, leisure and entertainment destinations, is one of the most successful shopping centres in the region in respect to footfall generation and sales figures throughout the year. Since its establishment in 1998, Dubai Summer Surprises, which extends for 10 weeks across the city has had an extremely positive impact on footfall figures,” he said.

He pointed out that this year they have witnessed a significant growth in footfall, which has positively impacted sales figures across the Centre. “Our expected footfall growth is 8 per cent and 10 per cent sales growth. The combination of promotions, activities and prizes for DSF and the widespread sales all add value to the customer’s experience,” he maintained. From the 21st June to the 7th of July, 1.15 million people visited Deira City Centre. This resulted in 8 per cent increase in footfall traffic over the same period last year.



On the entertainment schedule, he said that Deira City Centre is hosting Superheroes in the City until July 20. This, according to him, is the first of its kind in Dubai. Packed with action, acrobatics and humour, this rib tickler is sure to enthrall the shoppers, he assured. A crazy clowning, tricky juggling and gripping magic show named Carrot and Pickle the Clowns will entertain the crowds between 21 and 25 July. The Musical Kitchen, being held from August 9 to 22, aims at educating little ones on the health benefits and nutrition facts of fruits & vegetables through song and dance. Finally, an exclusive DSS Mega Event titled Photography Exhibition will also be held from 12th to 19th of August.

Deira City Centre attracts people from various nationalities reflecting the demographic make up of Dubai. In addition, there are a highly visible number of tourists from around the world. “Our ethnic break-up of visitors in DCC are skewed towards GCC nationals, Arab expatriates, and an Asian group that represent 70 per cent of our main audience. We expect to see around five million shoppers this year during the DSS period,” Rahman said.