In a year that posed many challenges for the global airport retail sector, Dubai Duty Free bucked the trend by announcing record annual sales of Dhs4.1 billion (US$1.140 billion) in 2009, representing a 3.76% increase over the previous year. It has also recorded over 20.3 million sales transactions with an average of 55,800 sales transactions per day.

To date, Dubai Duty Free has received more than 150 awards from industry, media and government bodies, which bear testimony to the operation’s retail success.

In 2009, Dubai Duty Free was announced as the biggest single airport retail operation in the world, based on sales analysis issued by Generation Research. The announcement, made in June 2009, places Dubai Duty Free just ahead of sales at London Heathrow and Seoul Incheon Airports for the first time.

Other awards won by the operation last year include: the Global Traveler award for ‘Best for Duty Free Shops’ presented in Los Angeles won in January, the ‘Middle East Travel Retailer of the Year’ award presented at the DFNI-Asia Pacific awards in Singapore, and the ‘Best Duty Free Shopping’ award presented during the Business Traveler Middle East Awards in Dubai won in May. In October, Dubai Duty Free won the Frontier Award for ‘Best Marketing Campaign by a Retailer’ in Cannes. At the close of the year, Dubai Duty Free was honoured by the US version of Business Traveler magazine which named the operation the ‘Best for Duty Free Shopping’ in a reader’s survey.

On a personal level, Dubai Duty Free’s Managing Director, Colm McLoughlin, received four top awards including the ‘Lifetime Achievement in the Middle East Event Industry’ award, which recognised his role in promoting the UAE through events. In October, McLoughlin received the prestigious ‘Businessman of the Year’ award at the annual Middle East Business Achievement Awards. In December, McLoughlin was again named ‘Duty Free Manager of the Year’ in the Aviation Business Awards. The final award of the year, for ‘Lifetime Services to the Arabian Sponsorship Industry’ award, was presented to Mr. McLoughlin by British Gold Olympic medallist, Sir Matthew Pinsent CBE at the inaugural Arabian Sponsorship Awards held in Abu Dhabi.

While the successful running of the shopfloor is a major focus for Dubai Duty Free, the operation is highly committed to promoting Dubai through a series of high level sporting events such as the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, which is owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and comprises a Premier 5 tournament played back-to-back with an ATP 500 tournament, which took place from February 14 – 27.This event complements the operation's annual sports calendar that includes horseracing both at home and overseas.

On March 27, Dubai Duty Free will sponsor the US$5 million Group 1 Dubai Duty Free, one of the major races on Dubai World Cup night, which was won in 2009 by Gladiatorus and ridden by the first UAE champion jockey, Ahmed Ajtebi.

Other sports benefiting from the operation’s sponsorship and support include major golf tournaments, including the industry-focused Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup, horseracing in the UK and Ireland, international powerboat racing, rugby and basketball.