Dubai luxury good sales slump 45 percent in downturn

Sales of luxury goods in Dubai have dropped about 45 percent since the global economic crisis prompted local shoppers to tighten their purse strings and tourists to rethink spending sprees, a top retailer said.

Speaking to the Reuters Global Luxury 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 like Russia, who tended to frequent Dubai malls, stay home as they seek ways to weather the crisis.