Dubai luxury good sales slump 45 per cent

Sales of luxury goods in Dubai have dropped about 45 per cent since the global economic crisis prompted local shoppers to tighten their purse strings and tourists to rethink spending sprees, a top retailer said according to "Emirates Business".
Speaking at a summit in Dubai, Tony Jashanmal, a Director of the 90-year old Jashanmal Group of Companies, said the worst of the first real downturn in the region's retail sector in about 17 years had passed.
But the repercussions would linger as retailers scramble to sell excess stock and shoppers from recession-hit countries such as Russia, who tended to frequent Dubai malls, stay home as they seek ways to weather the crisis. "The sales of everything dropped a little bit, but more drastic was in the luxury field," said Jashanmal yesterday. "It's not only people making good money [here], but also a very big number of people who were visitors and saw Dubai as their nearest market for luxury products." –