Dubai festival gold sales will be 'stable'

Organisers for the Dubai Summer Surprise (DSS) shopping festival are optimistic that gold sales will remain stable, according to the National newspaper.

"If you are the average customer who buys jewellery for pleasure, then a two or three per cent dip in prices is not going to stop you from buying - on the contrary," said Tawfique Abdullah, the chairman of Dubai Gold and Jewellery Group.

The newspaper reported that last year shoppers spent 3.2 billion dirhams at the festival and gold is usually the biggest seller.

Laila Suhail, chief executive officer for the Dubai Shopping Festival Office (DSFO) is predicting that overall consumer spending will see a 25 per cent increase from 2007, according to Al Bawaba.

The news agency also reported that Mr Suhail said the DSFO is predicting a ten per cent increase in the number of visitors to this year's festival to 2.5 million people.