S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 From January 2nd to February 2nd, Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, will host a discount fest. The event is called Dubai Shopping Festival and is currently in its 19th edition. Discounts of up to 80% will be offered, according to Dubai\u2019s Department of Tourism, Commerce and Marketing (DTCM), which organizes the event. The participating stores will also host raffles and events in order to attract consumers. <\/p>\n
From 1996 to 2012, the festival has attracted approximately 47 million visitors, who have injected 114 billion dirhams (US$ 31 billion) into the emirate\u2019s economy. The theme for this year\u2019s edition is \u201cSummer is Dubai,\u201d and the goal is to promote the emirate as a summer destination for families from the United Arab Emirates and the world over.
The emirate has even created a department to promote the event, called the Dubai Festival and Retail Establishment (DFRE), whose CEO is Laila Suhail. The event\u2019s date was announced four months prior to its opening, so retailers, hotel operators and travel agents had time to prepare. Suhail ascribes the success the festival has enjoyed thus far to Dubai\u2019s pioneering vision in hosting a festival with a long-term perspective.<\/p>\n
The 19th edition is part of Dubai\u2019s strategy to attract 20 million tourists per year until 2020. In its first year, the festival received 1.6 million visitors, who spent 2.15 billion dirhams (US$ 585 million). The last edition was attended by 4.3 million people, who spent 14.7 billion dirhams (US$ 4 billion).<\/p>\n
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/b><\/p>\n