Dubai Shopping Festival, or DSF as it is often referred to, took off in 1996 in a bid to attract more tourists. Fifteen years later, the city is flooded with hardcore shopping tourists who flock to the city for no other purpose but to buy, buy and buy.

There is no surprise in that. After all, Dubai is peppered with shopping malls. From the ritzy and fancy, like the gigantic Dubai Mall and Italian styled El Mercato, to those devoted to wholesale and ‘made in China’ items, like Outlet Mall and Dragon Mart.

Whether you are into this or that, most, if not all, shopping malls offer jaw-dropping bargains, especially during the Dubai Shopping Festival.

Big red signs reading ‘up to 70% discount’ are not uncommon, as many shops use the festival as an opportunity to liquidate their stocks and prepare for the new season’s collection; a win-win opportunity, especially if you are a hungry shopper on the lookout for a good deal. Another strong promotion much utilized during the festival is the ‘buy one get one free’, which simply translates to a 50 percent discount.

Dubai Shopping Festival doesn’t just lure shoppers with big red discount tags, but with irresistible offers as well.

El Mercato offers a chance to enter a draw to win an Infiniti FX35 crossover AWD car for every AED200 spent shopping at the mall. Both Dubai Festival Centre and Dubai Mall present a chance to win luxurious travel packages to Paris, London, Milan and Singapore for shopping sums exceeding AED250 and AED300 respectively. Oasis Center Mall took a different route with its Money Mania promotion where you could win up to AED300,000 in shopping vouchers. Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre and Mirdif City Centre opted to beat all the available promotions by offering four weekly draws, spanning the one-month duration of the festival, offering a number of prizes and totaling one million dirhams.

This year’s edition of Dubai Shopping Festival is not all about shopping. So if you are not that much into shopping, don’t feel out of place. There is a wide array of shows, from classical ballet to traditional Indian dancing, taking place in almost every mall. Not to mention carnival-style mini parades that frequently take place inside the big shopping malls, like Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates. They often feature marching musical bands, as well as acrobat and circus acts. Parades are certainly not restricted to indoor venues, as outdoor parades are scheduled to take place along Dubai Festival City Promenade and other venues.

If malls are too modern for you, and you prefer a slow-paced shopping experience, where shopping and entertainment are mixed, then you should not miss out on night bazaars down Al Seef and Al Riqqa streets. With kiosks selling all sorts of souvenirs, from artifacts to jewelry, the night bazaars offer a great opportunity to revive the former glory of shopping as it was done years back. Shopping in the bazaars comes with its own essence, but certainly misses out on fixed prices, so bargaining is the name of the game here.

Another shopping-meets-entertainment venue, courtesy of Dubai Shopping Festival, is Global Village. It is a huge open-air premise that hosts delegations from different countries offering typical products from their culture; from renowned Yemeni mountain honey and cotton-made Egyptian garments to strong Kenyan coffee beans and exotic African masks.

Whether you are a shopaholic or a casual shopper, Dubai Shopping Festival seems to be a full-fledged shopping experienced, that will be enjoyed by all visitors.

For the full schedule of events held as part of Dubai Shopping Festival, please check .
 

Low-cost carrier flydubai offers direct flights from Dubai to several cities inside the Kingdom including Abha, Jeddah, Qassim, Riyadh, Taif and Yanbu.

Flydubai

 

Dubai has some of the widest variety of hotels collection in the world. If you are looking for a luxurious experience, then One & Only Royal Mirage is a tried and tested recommendation. But if you would rather spend that extra penny on shopping, then the midrange Ibis Hotel would do the job.
 
— Dubai-based Egyptian Mohamed El Hebeishy is a freelance travel writer, journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in several publications across the region. He is the author of Frommer’s Egypt guidebook (second edition), co-updater of Bradt Sudan guidebook and photographer and author of the widely acclaimed book Egypt Rediscovered.