Gentlemen, take your head out of your hands – it’s only shopping!
That’s right because for the next month in Dubai it is festival time known as Layali Dubai in Arabic, which has been in operation since 1996 and sees some of the world’s most recognisable brands being sold for bargain prices.
Dubai Shopping Festival is reckoned to attract around between 2 and 3 million visitors every year, so this is a pretty big deal, and not just a couple of stalls set up in the city centre. We’re talking fashion shows, nightly firework parties, street side entertainment, cultural events and performing arts underpinning the over-riding theme of sales, sales and more sales!
Streets in Dubai are transformed with a myriad of colour and activities, helicopter tours are in operation and even the parks are used for entertainment purposes during the festival.
People are drawn to this event for the amazing tax free shopping, where international brands are available with discounts of up to 75%. The large scale malls of Dubai are very much part of the festival and top class imported goods are freely available during this period. You just can’t get away from it, not that you’d want to such is the scope of goods on offer – there really is something for everyone even if you aren’t purchasing anything.
Daily prizes are also available and these are organised by participating shops, malls and retailers – and the prizes include luxury items like the impressive LX570 car and Dh 100,000 – not bad eh?!
There are exclusive dolphin shows for children, a desert camp with quad biking and camel rides, stalls for the whole family at the Global Village and of course the Dubai fashion week where a catwalk is held between 10-17 February at the Dubai Mall.
I haven’t finished!
Kids will love Aqua Fantasia – a gigantic aquatic show where music and water jets create an exciting extravaganza alongside a sound and light show and dolphin shows for younger guests – so if you are considering Dubai, there’s no better time than now to visit!
Also, you could combine your visit with a bit of International Test Match cricket as England meet Pakistan here this month !