Perfumes drive Dubai Duty Free sales higher in 2025

Dubai Duty Free said its sales reached AED8.7 billion ($2.4 billion) in 2025, a nearly 10 percent year-on-year increase.

Sales in December hit AED923 million, the highest monthly take in the retailer’s 42 years and a 12 percent increase over the same month a year earlier. 

The sales were fuelled by DDF’s anniversary, which included a 25 percent discount on December 20, resulting in a shopping spree of AED69 million in 24 hours.  

Growth in sales exceeded passenger traffic by an estimated 5 percent, with final passenger numbers for 2025 to be released by Dubai Airport later this month, DDF said in a statement.

The top five selling categories for the year were perfumes, liquor, gold, tobacco and confectionery.

Perfumes remained the leading category, generating AED1.6 billion and accounting for over 18 percent of sales. Liquor followed with sales of AED1.1 billion, while gold recorded AED896.5 million.

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Tobacco ranked fourth with AED883.6 million in sales, followed by confectionery on AED845.5 million.

Online sales reached AED230.1 million, accounting for 3 percent of the total, the statement said.

More than 21 million sale transactions occurred during the year — an average of 58,212 per day – with a total 56.796 million units of merchandise sold.

Departure sales totalled AED8 billion,  accounting for 91 percent of annual sales, while arrival sales reached AED551 million, or 6.4 percent of yearly takings.