According to a report on consumer spends for 2015 by Network International, domestic spends have increased 13% over 2014, while overall card spends in the UAE grew by 9% over 2014.
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The report, based on credit and debit card transactions in the UAE, found that spending by UAE-issued cards has remained by far the largest in value over the past two years and has remained steady between AED 9 billion and AED 10 billion per month.
David Mountain, chief commercial officer, Network International, commented: “The UAE economy, driven by diversification into non-oil revenues, has borne resilience to current market dynamics, as indicated by our analysis of card-spending data over the past year. Our analysis indicates some strong trends that can be leveraged by retailers and merchants in the UAE to bolster marketing strategies.â€
Network International’s full year 2015 consumer spending report indicates that domestic spenders were the highest spending group in the UAE last year with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait also making it to the top spenders list.
GCC spending increased by 15% last year while North American spends showed a 12% growth. Among the top 7 tourist spenders, Qatar displaced Russia to take the fourth spot overall in the UAE.
The appreciation of the dollar (and thus the dirham) had a negative effect on tourist spends from non-pegged currencies, with repercussions especially dominant in Asian and European spending.
U.S. spending however, being independent of the exchange rate fluctuations, grew by 13%. However, the average per purchase spend of US cardholders decreased in all sectors (except travel and duty free) as major hospitality and retail chains devised attractive deals/discounts to lure American customers to visit and spend in Dubai.
Similarly, the steep decline in oil prices along-with the devaluation of the Russian rouble saw Russian spends drop to nearly half as much when compared to 2014.
Chinese card spends also declined by 13% in 2015 as compared to 2014. The one exception here is the United Kingdom where spends grew by 9% in 2015 vs. 2014 even though the British Pound (GBP) depreciated against the UAE Dirham (AED) in 2015.
France and Australia were displaced from their 9th and 10th ranking (respectively) in terms of highest spends by Nigeria and India in 2015 (vs. 2014).
Australia’s heavy dependence on China for the consumption of its natural resources and depreciation of the Euro are one of the major factors which led to a decline in tourist spends of Australians by 12% and French by 14% in 2015. ■