UAE: Dubai's gold jewellers hope Eid Al Fitr, Indian festivals will increase sales
Gold jewellers in the UAE are pinning their hopes that festivals such as Eid Al Fitr and Indian festivals Akshaya Tritiya, Gudi Padwa will boost sales as prices go close to record highs in Dubai and globally.
Jewellers told Khaleej Times that bookings for Akshaya Tritya have already started and many have introduced promotions and discounts to cash in on the buying spree during this period.
The precious metal was trading at $3,046.49 per ounce, up 0.95 per cent on Thursday afternoon. In Dubai, 24K, 22K, 21K and 18K variants of the metal were trading at Dh365.75, Dh338.75, Dh324.75 and Dh278.25 per gram, respectively.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman, executive director of Kalyan Jewellers, said customers continue to see gold as a valuable investment despite record-high prices.
'With the Akshaya Tritiya approaching, we understand the significance of this occasion and have introduced a 10 per cent advance booking offer to help customers secure their gold at current rates, protecting them from future price hikes. To add further value, we are also offering gold coin giveaways of up to 2gm on their purchases, making this an even more rewarding time to shop,' said Kalyanaraman.
Rohan Siroya, CEO of Siroya Jewellers Retail Division, said Ramadan and Eid are big drivers of gifting occasions for religious calendars.
'If you look at the Hindu calendar, we have Gudi Padwa and Ugadi, which come around the same time as Eid. Then we have Akshaya Tritiya buying which happens for a month. So now it's a bonanza. Bookings for Akshaya Tritiya have already started,' said Siroya.
Akshaya Tritiya will be marked on April 30 and Ugadi and Gudhi Padwa on March 30. Similarly, Eid is most likely to begin on March 31 in UAE.
'We offer gold rate locks one month in advance which is a big advantage to the consumer. Even during Ramadan, a lot of gifting happens, and this is the trend now. With gold pricing staying high, we've seen consumers wanting to buy smaller items and diamonds because prices have dropped. When you have a chance to buy diamonds, then why not,' Siroya told Khaleej Times.
Jay Patni, CEO of Jewel Dubai, sees up to a 5 per cent increase in sales, driven by festivals like Akshaya Tritiya and because consumers still have strong confidence in the precious metal despite prices hitting an all-time high recently.
'Sometimes, people shift a certain amount or percentage of their investment to gold just to safeguard themselves for a certain period of volatility. Rather than keeping their money idle in the bank or spending on luxury items, they feel that this is a safe haven and it may appreciate in the future,' said Patni.
He added that sales pick up towards the end of Ramadan when more people buy precious metal jewellery for Eid.
Jewel Dubai has also introduced lock-in promotion for shoppers ahead of the festivals.
Chirag Vora, managing director of Bafleh Jewellers, sees a slight drop in sales as prices hit a record high.
'It takes time for people to get used to the new pricing. One month is not good enough; they usually take 2-3 months to digest it,' he said, adding that Bafleh also introduces promotions during the Akshaya Tritiya festival for shoppers and tourists.
He noted that Akshaya Tritiya 'is always a busy period' for gold jewellers in Dubai. 'Ramadan becomes slightly slow, but it picks up during Eid,' added Vora.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Campaign ME
4 hours ago
- Campaign ME
Why UAE's travel boom demands a curation-first marketing strategy
The UAE's travel and tourism sector is enjoying a sustained period of growth, with international and domestic flight bookings up 5 per cent and 37 per cent (May 2025 vs 2024), and domestic flights within Saudi Arabia up 4 per cent over the same period. Travellers from India (14 per cent), Saudi Arabia (13 per cent) and the UK (8 per cent) are showing particular interest, accounting for over a third of total travel to the UAE. The market is buoyant, confidence is high – and competition for travellers' attention is fierce. Of course, we remain mindful of the evolving regional landscape and its potential impact on traveller sentiment and mobility, particularly given recent geopolitical tensions. However, the longer-term trajectory for travel to the UAE remains one of growth and resilience. For marketers, this brings both opportunity and challenge. As more people consider the UAE for leisure, business, and blended trips, brands must not only be visible – they must be relevant. Reach and impressions, once the cornerstones of performance, now carry less weight in today's fast-moving landscape. In short: success lies in curation, not just coverage. Why scale is no longer enough Traditional programmatic advertising relied heavily on volume. Marketers bought inventory across large ad exchanges and hoped the algorithms would eventually land on the right user at the right time. This 'spray and pray' approach can still build awareness—but in sectors like travel, where margins are tight and customer journeys are complex, it's not enough. Today's traveller expects tailored messaging, responsive offers, and seamless cross-device experiences. Whether they're a UK-based couple booking a luxury weekend in Dubai or a family from Riyadh planning an Eid getaway, relevance is key to driving conversions. This is why more brands across the Middle East are turning to curated programmatic strategies—ones that prioritise quality and intent over sheer reach. So what exactly is curation in programmatic? In programmatic advertising, curation refers to the practice of pre-selecting high-quality inventory and combining it with audience data to create more targeted and efficient media buys. Unlike broad campaigns that rely on generic third-party data, curated programmatic enables advertisers to build private marketplaces tailored to their industry and audience. In the context of travel, this often means using real-time signals – such as flight searches, hotel availability, booking windows, and destination trends – to create granular audience segments that reflect actual traveller intent. These curated segments can then be activated across high-performing ad formats, including display, native, video, and social, to ensure messages appear where they're most likely to influence decision-making. This vertical approach to curation ensures that campaigns are not only more relevant but also more measurable, with less media waste and better alignment with sector-specific performance goals. It works – especially in the Middle East In key regional markets such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia – where mobile-first-behaviour is widespread, and booking windows are often short – a curated programmatic approach is especially effective. Rather than rely on generic audience segments or retrospective data, marketers can act on live travel signals – such as flight searches or hotel availability – to engage prospective travellers while they're still in the planning phase. This level of agility is especially valuable in the Middle East, where travel demand can shift rapidly around public holidays, major events, and seasonal travel peaks. By curating inventory and audiences based on real-time behaviour, brands can stay relevant and responsive in a region where timing and targeting are everything. A new playbook for a new era As travel rebounds and traveller expectations evolve, the UAE's hotel and tourism marketers face a new reality: it's no longer enough to just show up. You need to show up for the right person, in the right place, with the right message. That's where curated programmatic changes the game. It offers the precision of a direct buy with the scale and speed of programmatic—allowing travel brands to adapt faster, personalise better, and ultimately perform stronger. And with the GCCs outbound travel spend projected to exceed USD$100 bn by 2028, according to the ATM Travel Trends Report, the stakes and opportunities have never been higher. In a region defined by ambition and innovation, this isn't a future trend—it's a now strategy. So as we move into the second half of 2025, travel marketers would do well to shift from chasing impressions to delivering impact. The brands who invest in curated, intent-led marketing now will be the ones who win loyalty, protect margins, and lead the region's next phase of growth. By Stewart Smith, Managing Director, MEA, Sojern
Zawya
12 hours ago
- Zawya
GCC-unified tourist visa approved, set for imminent rollout
Doha, Qatar: A Schengen-style single tourist visa for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has been officially approved and is set to be rolled out soon, a UAE Minister has confirmed. UAE Minister of Economy, Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri said this to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the UAE Hospitality Summer Camp press conference. "The single (GCC) tourist visa has been approved and waiting now to be implemented, hopefully soon. Now it is with the Ministry of Interior and the relevant stakeholders and they should look into it," the Minister told the newspaper. The strategic move is seen as a critical milestone for regional tourism, enabling seamless travelling across all six GCC countries - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, and Bahrain. Once implemented, the visa will enable access to all six GCC countries, simplify paper work for tourists and enable easier travel for residents across GCC. © Dar Al Sharq Press, Printing and Distribution. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Al Etihad
a day ago
- Al Etihad
Abu Dhabi takes the lead in building sustainable, community-focused infrastructure, say experts
18 June 2025 00:37 SARA ALZAABI (ABU DHABI)The UAE capital has brought together over 2,000 global leaders in the construction industry for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Infrastructure Summit (ADIS), a two-day event that emphasises the role of human-centred sustainable infrastructure in developing liveable and resilient and thought leaders at the summit highlighted how Abu Dhabi takes the lead in redefining infrastructure to prioritise quality of life, sustainability, and wellbeing over traditional development by the Abu Dhabi Projects and Infrastructure Centre (ADPIC), ADIS 2025 kicked off on Tuesday under the banner 'Future Cities: Rethinking Infrastructure for Better Lifestyles'.The summit opens up opportunities for investments and partnerships to key industry players from around the world, said Eng. Maysarah Mahmoud Salim Eid, Director General of ADPIC. In an interview with Aletihad , Eid emphasised the importance of fostering collaboration and innovation as part of Abu Dhabi's efforts toward realising its ambitious infrastructure agenda. "We are managing a massive portfolio of over 600 government-funded capital projects worth more than Dh200 billion. Delivering that alone is not easy — we need fresh partners and new blood to join us through investment or collaboration," he it comes to infrastructure, Abu Dhabi is distinguished by its human-centred approach, Eid said."The uniqueness of our infrastructure lies in its focus on social impact-developing what the community needs to enhance lifestyles, health, and wellbeing. As 2025 is the Year of Community, everything we develop is meant to elevate citizens, residents, and even tourists," he key projects, Eid noted: "We have a world-class housing programme, an upgraded transport network, and major tourism developments like Saadiyat Island, the Natural History Museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, and the upcoming Disneyland." Prioritising Quality of LifeAbu Dhabi has been redefining infrastructure to create "liveable - and even lovable-communities", said Mahmoud Dandashly, Chief Business Officer of Lead Development for Jubail Island, who was also present at the summit. "Infrastructure today is no longer just about engineering and utilities," he said. "It includes both hard and soft infrastructure, supporting not only growth and mobility but also environmental quality and social wellbeing."The high-end, nature-focused Jubail Island - with 40 million square meters of mangrove forests and coastal areas - is a living testament to this vision, he said."The integration of sustainability, wellness, and liveability into national planning shows how deeply the leadership values quality of life," Dandashly emirate's sustainability vision extends across the construction sector. For example, Abu Dhabi-based Build Hub provides high-quality, sustainable building materials under one roof."Our goal is to make it easy for customers to find everything they need in one place," said Eng. Al Anood Al Ali, CEO of Build Hub, and Oday Al Ahmed, Project summit participant, real estate developer Reportage Group, praised the emirate's focus on people over skyscrapers."What makes Abu Dhabi stand out is the quality of life it delivers," said Sara Satari, Senior Global Communications Lead at Reportage Group. "It is about cleaner air, better living, and holistic wellbeing."Developer Bloom Holding also aligns its strategies with the emirate's ambitions. "Successful master developments are about human connection - where people feel rooted, inspired, and empowered," said Carlos Wakim, CEO of Bloom Holding. AI Platform for Construction IndustryAt the event, the Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) showcased how its AI-powered 'BINAA' platform has been streamlining Abu Dhabi's construction journey. Eng. Maryam Almheiri, Acting Section Head of Business Systems Development at DMT, said BINAA allows developers, contractors and engineers to monitor the progress of their projects in real time. "It improves transparency, speeds up processes, and enhances communication among all stakeholders." Features like 360-degree project views, compliance charts, and a firm directory make it easier for users to manage timelines and select partners based on verified data.
