Dubai Duty Free annual sales declined by 3.3 per cent year-on-year to reach AED 6.67bn ($1.82bn) in 2016. This translates to daily average sales of AED18.28m.

In 2015, annual sales also declined by 1.5 per cent from a high of AED6.9bn.

Annual sales in 2016 declined despite increasing the airport’s total retail space by 7,000 square metres when Concourse D at the Dubai International opened in early 2016.

Dubai Duty Free said in a statement that the sales in 2016 was generated through 27.12 million transactions in both Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International airports.

Colm McLoughlin, Dubai Duty Free executive vice-chairman and CEO, said they plan to improve retail offers both in Dubai International Airport’s Concourse C and in Al-Maktoum International airport’s passenger terminal building in 2017. “We have just opened our outlets in the area that links Concourse C to Concourse B, and we will fully renovate the retail areas in the rest of departures and apron levels of Concourse C over the course of the year,” McLoughlin said in a statement.

Some 75.9 million passengers have passed through Dubai International from January to November 2016, which is 7 per cent higher compared to 70.9 million reported during the same period in 2015.

Dubai Airports Company, which operates both Dubai International and Al-Maktoum International, has said it was aiming to reach 83 million passengers for the full-year 2016, up 6 per cent from 78 million reported in the previous year.

The opening of Concourse D in early 2016 increased the capacity of Dubai International from 75 million to 90 million passengers annually.