Dubai Duty Free has announced October sales totalling AED805.6 million, setting a new monthly high and delivering its eighth months-on-year record in 2025. This figure surpasses the previous October benchmark of AED692 million achieved in 2023 and now stands as the third-highest monthly performance in the operator’s 42-year history, after the AED821.4 million recorded in December 2024.
The growth rate year-on-year reached 19.31 per cent for October, while management noted that this figure outpaced growth in passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport by at least 10 percentage points. Cumulatively, year-to-date sales reached AED6.88 billion, an increase of AED552 million over the same period last year.
The performance was driven by strong category contributions and luxury-retail momentum. Perfumes remained the top-selling category with AED139.9 million in sales. Gold followed with AED97.2 million, supported in part by elevated Diwali-season demand and gold’s role as both a luxury and cultural purchase. Other notable contributors included liquor at AED96.7 million, tobacco at AED74 million, and confectionery at a record AED78 million with its “Dubai Chocolate” sub-line alone delivering AED34 million across 428,000 units.
Luxury fashion retail underpinned a significant portion of growth, with a year-on-year rise of 43.5 per cent in boutique sales. The opening of new boutique outlets for Louis Vuitton and Cartier in Concourse A in September contributed to this surge. Stand-out transactions included a single Audemars Piguet watch sold for over AED200,000 and two Hermès Birkin handbags each in excess of AED120,000 via the duty-free’s REKLAIM pre-owned luxury concept store.
All major retail locations within the airport posted double-digit growth. Concourse A led with 27.4 per cent, followed by Concourse C, Concourse B, Concourse D and Terminal 2. Sales in the arrivals section recorded an 18.3 per cent increase even amid intensified competition from alternative retail offerings.
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