Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) celebrates its 10-year anniversary with the launch of this year's Dubai Summer Surprises on June 21.

The event runs until August 31, when schools reopen. In many respects, the annual event has strengthened Dubai's tourism industry.

The DSF has made notable progress. The event managed to attract some 600,000 visitors in the inaugural year in 1988. The number of visitors crossed the one-million mark for the first time in 2001. The figure reached 1.5 million in 2003. In 2006, the event attracted some 1.875 million visitors.

DSF continues to attract more nationals than foreign tourists. However, this reflects the fact that DSF is partly a cultural event. In fact, the event is partly meant to reinforce Dubai's - and by the same token the UAE's - heritage and culture.

Yet the DSF has proved to be a hit when it comes to expenditure statistics.

Spending during the annual event has increased from Dh850 million in 1988 to Dh2.57 billion this year. These cover general shopping plus food, accommodation and transport. But the real contribution to Dubai's economy is more when you use the multiplier effect.

DSF organisers plan to broaden target groups to include various age brackets, and not just focus on children. This is clever move, as entertainment cannot just be confined to youngsters. After all, adults are the ones who have the purchasing power.

DSF intends to bring about another change in the programme, namely that of running entire activities simultaneously from the launching date.

Traditionally, DSF distributed activities over a ten-week span, with a unique "surprise" emerging every week. Ostensibly, this was meant to grant normal visitors to the emirate the opportunity to experience the activities.

As suggested, the multiplier effect of DSF goes way beyond the money spent made during the event. One such positive spill-over effect of DSF is that it helps increase the number of taxis on the roads. The number of taxis stood at 2,666 in 1988 and increased to 5,886 by March 2007.

According to the Roads and Transport Authority, six firms operate taxis at the moment, including a concern dedicating some 50 vehicles only for ladies. Dubai Taxi is the largest operator - it boasts more than 3,000 vehicles.

Other statistics point to growing number of users of taxi services in a span of nine years. For example, the number of drivers increased from 2,700 in 1988 to 10,000 by March 2007.

Also, the number of passengers transported surged from nearly 39 million to 89 million in the same interval. In addition, average daily passengers jumped from 105,555 in 1988 to 250,000 by March of this year.

Other benefits of the DSF include an ever-increasing construction of hotel and other tourism-related activities. Dubai boasts different hotels catering to all sorts of budgets. Emirates airline is another beneficiary, transporting thousands of people to and from Dubai.

Among others, DSF provides a clear example that bad weather should not necessarily be a constraint. Undoubtedly, Dubai's weather during the long summer months is a combination of high temperatures and humidity.

At times, temperatures touch 45 degrees Celsius with 100 per cent humidity. In a sense, Dubai has joined Orlando in the state of Florida in the US in attracting visitors to its Disney attractions during the summer.

The experience of DSF shows that uncomfortable weather should not be a constraint per se. Certainly, life goes on regardless of weather.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in Bahrain.