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‘Fourth-best month ever’ as Dubai Duty Free smashes all-time April records with US$195 million in sales
The performance is a timely boost for the travel retailer, whose future structure is under review. Among the stand-out performers were confectionery, spurred by the Dubai Chocolate phenomenon, which turned in an extraordinary +84% increase year-on-year, while tobacco also shone.
UAE. Dubai Duty Free posted an all-time April sales high of AED713 million (US$195.4 million), an +18% increase year-on-year.
Remarkably, the result ranks April 2025 as the fourth-best month on record for the airport retailer since operations began in December 1983.
The performance is a timely boost for the travel retailer, whose future structure is under the microscope after the revelation in February that it is exploring opportunities for strategic partnerships to drive growth. Since that time, in-depth conversations have been held with several of the world’s leading travel retailers.
In April, the top five product categories in order were perfumes, liquor, tobacco, gold and confectionery.
Perfume sales reached AED128.7 million (US$35.3 million) contributing 18% of total revenue and showing a notable +16% increase year-on-year. Cosmetics sales rose +8.39% over last April to US$9.3 million.
Liquor was the second-biggest category with AED92.5 million (US$25.3 million) in revenues, up +13%. Tobacco saw a +25% surge year-on-year with sales of AED73.9 million (US$20.3 million).
[In January this year, The Moodie Davitt Report Founder & Chairman Martin Moodie took a tour with Ramesh Cidambi of the recently renovated liquor & tobacco shops at Dubai International Airport Concourse B East and West. Here we view a Dubai Duty Free version of Westside Story.]
Gold sales rose +35% to AED 71.6 million (US$19.6 million), contributing 10% of total revenue.
Confectionery, spurred by the Dubai Chocolate phenomenon, continued to demonstrate strong growth, achieving AED69.5 million (US$19.1 million) in sales, an extraordinary +84% increase year-on-year, accounting for 10% of total revenue.
Dubai Duty Free was particularly encouraged by the performance of the fashion boutiques in Terminal 3’s concourses A and B. Their combined sales were up +12% year-on-year, a commendable turnaround given that these high-profile stores have been lagging in sales since Q1 2024.
The Pre-loved luxury segment, available in the airport retailer’s Reklaim outlets, has delivered impressive results of AED9 million (US$2.45 million) since it was introduced in December 2024. Of that, AED3.5 million (US$0.97 million) was generated in April alone.
As mentioned, the viral Dubai Chocolate continued its remarkable success story with sales hitting AED28.6 million (US$7.8 million) in April, representing an extraordinary AED1 million (US$274,000) in sales per day.
Other notable performers included ticket sales for the milestone Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire Series 500, which was sold out within a record seven days.
That result underscored continuing strong demand for a long-running popular promotion synonymous with Dubai Duty Free and adding to the total Millennium Millionaire sales for April of AED21 million (US$5.3 million).
“This robust performance can be seen across all categories both in-store and online, with online sales increasing by +3% in April,” said Dubai Duty Free Managing Director Ramesh Cidambi.
“We are also seeing an increase in the average passenger spend and that too is very encouraging.”
Sales in departures across the operation reached AED638.3 million (US$174.9 million) representing 90% of total monthly sales and a +19% increase compared to the same period last year.
Arrivals sales reached AED51.2 million (US$14.04 million), representing 7% of total sales and an increase of +17% year-on-year.
In terms of top source markets for Dubai Duty Free, India remained number one with AED72.14 million (US$19.8 million) sales, followed by Russia with AED54.6 million (US$14.97 million), Saudi Arabia with AED51.2 million (US$14 million), China with AED39.3 million (US$10.8 million), and the UK in fifth place with sales of AED36.2 million (US$9.9 million). 
