Packed programme of events revealed for Dubai Shopping Festival 2017

Millions of shoppers and families will enjoy a jam-packed schedule of events at the Dubai Shopping Festival when the event’s 22nd edition kicks off on 26th December.

Final preparations are underway to launch the 34-day shopping, winning and entertainment extravaganza, the longest running festival of its kind in the world.

The Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), an agency of the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism), and the organisers of DSF 2017, revealed its plans to make the world take notice – including fashion shows, exclusive product launches, big names in entertainment, as well as opportunities to win cars, cash and gold.

DSF will also kick off the new Retail Calendar of Dubai, with the festival starting earlier than in previous years to take advantage of the holiday season retail buzz. Run under an exciting slogan – ‘Shop. Win. Celebrate’ – the festival will end on 28th January, making this edition one of the longest in the event’s history.

Dubai’s annual Retail Calendar is developed by DFRE in co-operation with the Department of Economic Development. The calendar contains the full programme of anchor retail activities being conducted and promoted at a city-level including shopping related festivals, promotions and seasonal offer periods, mega-sales and clearance events, exclusive retail experiences and activations.

"Returning for the 22nd edition, the Dubai Shopping Festival is one of the most important on Dubai’s annual events calendar that will further enhance Dubai’s position as an iconic year-round tourism destination offering unique shopping experiences. The DSF is part of our efforts to leverage large-scale events to achieve a bigger goal – that of attracting 20 million visitors to Dubai as envisaged by Dubai’s Tourism Vision 2020. This is also a time when the spotlight falls on our solid partnerships in the private sector, whose outstanding support has ensured the continuous success of DSF, contributing to the economic growth of Dubai," said Helal Saeed Almarri, Director-General of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism).

Saeed Mohammad Mesam Al Falasi, Executive Director, Retail and Strategic Alliances, DFRE, said, "We are delighted to announce that the Dubai Shopping Festival 2017 is going to be one of our biggest editions to date in terms of exciting offers for shopping, chances of winning great prizes, and spectacular entertainment experiences As the most important fixture in our annual retail calendar, we are expecting millions of shoppers and families to come to Dubai for a DSF that will run for a longer duration of 34 days, and which is set to exceed expectations. Working closely with all our stakeholders, the DSF team has pulled out all the stops to make this annual extravaganza memorable for the whole family, with regular favourites and plenty of new events for everyone to enjoy while offering an even more rewarding retail season for Dubai’s diverse business community."

As part of the exciting line-up of activities on the opening day of DSF 2017, one of DFRE’s Strategic Partners, Dubai Festival City (DFC), an Al Futtaim Group development, will launch a stunning new waterfront attraction that is set to rival popular waterfront shows in other global destinations worldwide. The DFC launch event will culminate in a spectacular fireworks show celebrating the start of DSF 2017.