Abu Dhabi Duty Free (ADDF) announced its sales results for H1 2007 with turnover recorded at 33.26 per cent over the same period last year.

Underlining ADDF’s position as the region’s leading duty free operation by average spend, departing passengers increased their expenditure by 10.5 percent with an impressive $51 per passenger recorded over the same period.

ADDF is the region’s number one travel retailer by customer spend and second by turnover.

“The first half of 2007 has been an exciting time for all of us at Abu Dhabi Duty Free and we are delighted that the first-half results reflect the steady and extremely strong start we have been realizing right from the beginning of the year,” said Abu Dhabi Duty Free general manager Niveen Ibrahim.

The airport retail categories key to ADDF’s impressive growth have been in Electronics which saw a 51 per cent jump on 2006 figures, Beauty and Fragrance was up 44.3 per cent, Gold up at 44 per cent, Leather Goods up 87.7 per cent, Cigars 57.8 per cent and Luxury Goods by 34.3 per cent.

“With the two great new concepts coming on stream in the form of DOMO – the first dedicated “His’n’Her” boutique store in the region’s travel retail sector – and the upcoming ‘48-hour Arrivals Shop’ where arrivals passengers can return and collect their duty free allowance up to two days after their arrival, we can also say we expect to cross the $100 million [Dh370m] mark in terms of turnover by the end of the year,” added Ibrahim.

Established in 1984 with just five shops, Abu Dhabi Duty Free (ADDF) has grown into a multi-award winning travel retail organisation and as the second-largest operation in the Middle East maintains the highest average spend per customer of all Middle East Duty Free operations.

From the beginning of 2008, additional retail space will be added at Abu Dhabi International Airport with the new Terminal 3 development – a dedicated terminal for Etihad Airways.

With the growing number of flights and routes coming through Abu Dhabi’s airports in the short to medium term, ADDF is set to become one of the fastest growing travel retail environments over the next decade.

ADDF runs a monthly draw “The Big Ticket” – a multi-prize raffle that is open to travellers passing through any of Abu Dhabi’s airports and to non-travellers via an online purchase facility or at drop-off points at the airports.

With a total prize fund of Dh1,500,000 ($407,830) or Dh1,000,000 ($271,887) for first prize, tickets are typically priced at Dh500 ($135) each.

ADDF services extend across the Emirate with operations at Abu Dhabi International Airport, Al Ain International Airport, and the Ghweifat land-border outlet between the UAE and KSA. TradeArabia News Service