Abu Dhabi Duty Free (ADDF), the region’s number one travel retailer for average transaction spend posted its results for 2007 today with the company having surpassed its latest milestone finished the year by posting USD 102.6m in turnover.
Up 36.29 percent over the same period last year, Dan Cappell, General Manager of Abu Dhabi Duty Free and Acting Commercial Director of Abu Dhabi Airports Company said: “I would like to thank all our customers and staff for making 2007 such a success and I am pleased to announce that we have crossed another key milestone in the history of Abu Dhabi Duty Free by reaching and surpassing the USD 100m mark.”
2007 sales were buoyed by robust growth across the core categories of Beauty & Fragrance, L&T, Confectionery and Gold with the best performing core category going to Electronics with a 52.22 percent increase. Core category sales accounted for over 58 percent of total revenue at ADDF in 2007.Already enjoying one of the highest average spends per transaction in the world; ADDF saw a marked upward trend in 2007 with year-end figures revealing an average USD58.50 spent per transaction by departing passengers – up from USD51 earlier in the year or 23.54 percent over 2006 figures.
“Last year’s growth can be attributed to a number of factors but undoubtedly a key contributor has been the increased frequencies and destinations arriving into and flying from Abu Dhabi due to the ever expanding network of the UAE’s National Airline, Etihad Airways,” added Cappell.
“We are confident that from early in 2008 we will see yet more aggressive growth, particularly as Etihad adds another key destination to their network – Beijing – and the official opening of Abu Dhabi International Airport’s Terminal 3 later in the year will add over 2,500sqm of additional retail space and enhanced customer experiences to our customers,” concluded Cappell.
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
