Dubai Duty Free announced on Saturday that it had surpassed its annual sales target of $2 billion.

The company said it achieved the milestone when Paul and Annelise Christensen, a retired Danish couple, purchased a camera worth Dh1,999 ($544.2) in Concourse B on December 29 at 12:43am.

The couple were transiting Dubai for the first time from Copenhagen to Sydney for their wedding anniversary. They were presented with a DDF gift card for $2,000 by Dubai Duty Free officials.

Speaking with a DDF representative, Christensen said: “My wife wanted to purchase gold and with this $2,000 gift card she can buy all the gold that she wants."

"We have been tracking the sales figures hour by hour over the past couple of days and it is fantastic to have achieved this figure before the end of the year,” said Colm McLoughlin, executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of Dubai Duty Free.

Dubai Duty Free, which celebrated its 35th Anniversary on December 20th, recorded sales of $20 million for its first full year of business. Of the original 100 staff who joined in 1983, 26 are still in active service, and the current staff figures are 6,200. - TradeArabia News Service