Kochi, Jan 7 : The Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), being held for 32 days from January 24, has launched a promotional campaign here today.

The Chief Operating Officer of the Festival, Ibhraim Saleh, said that the Festival had overwhelming response last year from Kerala, with about 250,000 visitors. "We hope that more visitors come this year too," he added.

The inaugural function also unveiled an unprecedented array of raffle prizes amounting to an estimated Rs. 33 Crores.

The prizes includes 32 Kilos of gold valued at Rs. 3.52 crores, 90 Lexus Cars and 1,00, 000 cash .

Around 3.5 million tourists visited the Fair in 2007 and the officials expect the number to rise by 10-15 percent this year. People from 200 countries visited the festival last year. . The total retail turnover was Rs. 11,200 crores , and jewellery worth of Rs. 1200 crores were sold.

The festival aims to promote Dubai as the ultimate global shopping and tourist destination by creating world class events and retail promotions. (ANI)