Can I Get a Gift Card in Dubai?

Whether you live in Dubai or you’re taking a vacation there, you might want to purchase a gift card. Gift cards allow you to spend money without worrying about exchange rates or surprise fees. However, finding a place that sells gift cards isn’t as easy as it is in America. You’ll need to go to specific retailers or purchase them online in advance and have them delivered.

Can I get a gift card in Dubai?  Yes, you can purchase gift cards in Dubai. They are available at the Mall of the Emirates at any customer service desk. You can also purchase US iTunes gift cards from CardDelivery. Other online retailers sell gift cards as well.

Now that you know you can purchase gift cards in Dubai, you might want a little more information. In this article, you’ll find information on where to buy the best gift cards, as well as some of the benefits of using gift cards.

Where Can You Purchase Gift Cards in Dubai?

Gift cards aren’t as readily available in Dubai or the rest of the United Arab Emirates as they are in the United States. Fewer retailers offer gift cards, and you can’t purchase them at a corner store like you would in other countries. Instead, you must go to a few specific locations or buy them online and have them delivered.

The Mall of the Emirates

The most common place for people to purchase gift cards is at the Mall of the Emirates. The Mall of the Emirates is the largest shopping mall in Dubai and is owned by Majin Al Futtaim Properties. It was officially opened in 2005, and now it’s one of the biggest tourist attractions in Dubai.

It has over 600 retail outlets, over 100 restaurants, and nearly 8000 parking spaces. As a result, it’s become one of the premier tourist attractions in Dubai. However, it isn’t just for tourists as thousands of locals pass through the mall every day.

One of the most significant benefits of going to the Mall of the Emirates is that you can purchase gift cards. They are available at every customer service desk at the mall. You need to purchase them with AED, also known as Emirati dirham. The minimum load of a card is AED 50, and the maximum amount is AED 3000. There is also an AED 5.25 activation fee.

However, if you don’t have any of the local currency available to you, you can use a Visa gift, credit or debit card to make the purchase. Gift cards you purchase from a customer service desk can be used at most leading retailers in the Mall of the Emirates.

CardDelivery

Gift cards for the Mall of the Emirates are an excellent idea, especially if you’re a tourist looking for an easy way to make purchases. However, if you’re a local, you might be looking for other types of gift cards. Specifically, you might want an iTunes gift card so you can purchase applications or music from the Apple store and download them on your phone or tablet.

If that’s the case, you won’t find those types of gift cards at the Mall of the Emirates. Until recently, it wasn’t possible to get iTunes gift cards Dubai or any other UAE city. However, CardDelivery now sells iTunes gift cards to all major cities in the United Arab Emirates. You can also purchase Amazon gift cards in many places as such too.

To purchase one of these cards, you can use PayPal or any other major credit card. If you have a UAE credit card, you now have access to the iTunes gift card store. Before the existence of this service, there was content you didn’t have access to, but now you’ll be able to see content that wasn’t available to people in the United Arab Emirates before. You can also purchase a prepaid card that can be delivered to your home.

Why Should You Use Gift Cards in Dubai as a Tourist?

If you’re planning a trip to Dubai, you might be wondering why it’s recommended to use gift cards while you’re there, when possible. The main reason is that it’s cheaper, in the long run, to use a gift card rather than converting your money to the local currency.

Banks don’t give the best exchange rate when converting money. As a result, if you take out money multiple times from an ATM, you’ll be losing more and more money with the fees that are added with each withdrawal. When you purchase a gift card, you only need to worry about the one-time activation fee for the card.

Additionally, you don’t want only to use your credit card to make purchases while in any foreign country. Almost every bank will hit you with international purchase fees. Therefore, every time you make a purchase, you’ll be spending a little more than you thought. These fees might not seem too bad individually, but throughout an entire vacation, they can add up to be a large sum of money. 

However, if you use your credit card one time to purchase a gift card that you can use for many meals and most of your shopping, you’ll only need to deal with the foreign purchase fees that one time. This is an excellent way to save some money on a trip that is already going to be very expensive.

What Is the Exchange Rate from USD to AED?

Before you plan a trip to another country, you’ll want to familiarize yourself with the currency of the country you’re going to. In this case, the currency you need to get familiar with is AED, the currency of the United Arab Emirates.

Even if you’re only planning on spending money on a gift card and maybe a few other things, knowing the exchange rate will allow you to keep track of how much money you’re spending in your native currency.

Most currencies around the world have a value that fluctuates daily based on the global economy. For example, ten years ago, the Canadian dollar and the American dollar were nearly identical in value, and the Canadian dollar was even more valuable at times. However, now the American dollar is worth around 30 percent more than the Canadian dollar.

Because of the continually changing currency exchange rates, you typically need to check the exchange rate every time you go to a foreign country, even if you’ve been there before.

However, that isn’t the case for the AED. The AED has a fixed exchange rate. A fixed exchange rate is when a country ties the value of its currency to the value of another currency. The United Arab Emirates has chosen to attach the value of its currency to the U.S. dollar.

As explained in the article “Fixed Exchange Rates: Pros, Cons, and Examples” by Kimberly Amadeo from The Balance, one American dollar is always worth AED 3.67. So, depending on the value of the U.S. dollar, you could be getting a varying amount in exchange for AED.

In Conclusion

When you travel to a country with a different form of currency, you want to minimize the amount of money you lose to banks and exchange fees. One of the best ways to do this is by purchasing gift cards.

In Dubai, you can purchase gift cards at the Mall of the Emirates or online and have them delivered to you. Remember, it’s best to put enough money on the card to last your entire trip, so you only need to make one purchase.